in the tact, in the
intelligence, in the judgment, that nature has awarded us, and of which
we make so good a use in appreciating the works of others? Oh! then, few
learned men can be said to be diffident. Look at Newton: his diffidence
is almost as celebrated as his genius. Well, I will extract from two of
his letters, scarcely known, two paragraphs which, put side by side,
will excite some surprise; the first confirms the general opinion; the
second seems with equal force to contradict it. Here are the two
passages:

"We are diffident in the presence of Nature."

"We may nobly feel our own strength in the face of man's works."

In my opinion, the opposition in these two passages is only apparent; it
will he explained by means of a distinction which I have already
slightly indicated.

Bailly's diffidence required the same distinction. When people praised
him to his face on the diversity of his knowledge, our colleague did not
immediately repel the compliment; but soon after, he would stop his
panegyrist, and whisper in his ear with an air of mystery: "I will
confide a secret to you, pray do not take advantage of it: I am only a
very little less ignorant than another man."

Never did a man act more in harmony with his principles. Bailly was led
to reprimand severely a man belonging to the humblest and poorest class
of society. Anger does not make him forget that he speaks to a citizen,
to a man. "I ask pardon," says the first magistrate of the capital,
addressing himself to a rag-gatherer; "I ask your pardon, if I am angry;
but your conduct is so reprehensible, that I cannot speak to you
otherwise."

Bailly's friends were wont to say that he devoted too much of his
patrimony to pleasure. This word was calumniously interpreted. Merard
Saint Just has given the true sense of it: "Bailly's pleasure was
beneficence."

So eminent a mind could not fail to be tolerant. Such in fact Bailly
constantly showed himself in politics, and what is almost equally rare,
in regard to religion. In the month of June, 1791, he checked in severe
terms the fury with which the multitude appeared to be excited, at the
report that at the Theatines some persons had taken the Communion two
or three times in one day. "The accusation is undoubtedly false," said
the Mayor of Paris; "but if it were true, the public would not have a
right to inquire into it. Every one should have the free choice of his
religion and his creed." Nothing would have