Histoire des Celtes

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independent. One finds this Dissertation formal discourse crowned by the Academy at the end of Volume II In this edition, it follows Book II. of the History of the Celts. Mr. Pelloutier was moved by this literary triumph; and was he not right? The life of people of letters is too sterile in pleasures not to rejoice in those that can embellish its course.

The state of decline into which the old Royal Society had fallen had prevented it, in its final years, from making new acquisitions. Without the misfortune of this kind of inertia, it would not have neglected Mr. Pelloutier. But when the Sciences began to reclaim their rights, at the first dawn seen in that private Society which preceded the renewal of the Academy, Mr. Pelloutier was one of the first on the List of Associates. Soon after, he was incorporated with them into the new Academy, which always regarded him as one of its most diligent, hardworking, and useful members. The Memoirs he read in various Assemblies, both public and private, formed one of the principal ornaments of our collections. The President de Maupertuis Pierre Louis Maupertuis, a famous mathematician and astronomer, full of esteem and confidence for him, took every opportunity to

give him marks of it. He had specifically entrusted him with the position of Librarian, which he fulfilled as he did everything committed to him.

We all loved Mr. Pelloutier; we were all interested in his preservation. We were not without fear regarding his condition, which, for several years, was visibly declining. Courage and the habit of action sustained him until the very end; but he was no more than a shadow of what he had been. A fairly large stoutness had been succeeded by that thinness designated by the name of Marasme marasmus, a state of severe wasting. A troublesome phlegm had harassed him early on, and secret ailments undermined him, despite the strength of his temperament, and despite the resources he sought in diet, exercise, and remedies, some of which seem to have been harmful to him. It was therefore necessary to yield to the force of old and complicated evils. Toward the middle of last summer, they changed into a formal illness. He had already overcome very strong ones: the memory of the past led one to believe he would do the same with this one; but its progress soon destroyed the hopes with which we had flattered ourselves. Mr. Pelloutier saw his end approach with sentiments

E U L O G Y. xv

worthy of the exemplary conduct he had always maintained. Although he very innocently desired the continuation of a life of which he had made such good use, he was nonetheless filled with the most perfect resignation to the will of Heaven. He had a double need of it to sustain the rough struggles that preceded his deliverance. Some glimmers of relief revived the hopes of his family and his flock; one might well add those of the Court and the entire City, who made unanimous prayers for him; but these hopes vanished with his life on October 2nd of the year 1757, at the age of 63.

Everyone regretted him, because everyone suffered a real loss. He edified the Church: he served in a faithful and useful manner in all the bodies of which he was a member; he gave particular care to the studies of young theologians and to the instruction of Catéchumènes catechumens, or those being instructed in the basic doctrines of Christianity; he was helpful and charitable; he loved his family, and was adored rather than just loved by them. He had married in 1727 Mademoiselle Françoise Jaffoy, who survived him after 37 years of the sweetest union. She has preserved as tokens of their reciprocal tenderness three daughters and a son, a Doctor of Medicine. The latter, having inherited the excellent qualities of his father, filled the end of his life with the most vivid satisfaction, and deserves to conclude his Eulogy.

A decorative printer ornament shows a central urn or vase. It is surrounded by scrolling leaves and architectural details.