Page:Jardine Naturalist's Library Exotic Moths.djvu/50

50 which pleased him best, that is to say, not in the galleries or ateliers of the Museum, nor in his own confined chamber, but in the boundless extent of the fields, in the woods and meadows. It was there, under the vault of heaven, that the greatest number and most valuable of his observations were made. It was on his return from these frequent and laborious excursions that he meditated on the relations of the creatures he had studied, hastening, as soon as he had entered, to verify anew and commit to writing the result of his thoughts and studies, which he did on the corner of a pretty large table, which he had scarcely ever time to put in order, and which was almost always encumbered with books lying in disorderly heaps, along with boxes of insects, pincers, magnifying glasses, and all the other implements of the entomologist.

"He spoke with difficulty, owing to a mal-formation of the lower jaw, which advanced beyond the upper; but his conversation was lively, instructive, and animated, indicating great sagacity, soundness of judgment, and, above all, a candid, sincere, and upright heart. "He was late in obtaining an appointment, which at last secured him what every other person would have considered a position of moderate importance, but which was to him brilliant and splendid. "Respexit tamen, et longo post tempore venit." Like the old man in Virgil, he might likewise have reposed under the shade of his small possession, and