CLEMENTINE CUVIER,

DAUGHTER OF BARON CUVIER, THE CELEBRATED

NATURALIST.

THE name of Cuvier is familiar to men of science as a household word. In the departments of natural history and comparative anatomy, and more especially by his researches in fossil geology, he has acquired higher fame than almost any other of his contemporaries. Though sprung of comparatively obscure parentage, he rose, under Providence, by the force of genius and unwearied application, to be one of the most distinguished men of modern times. "Those who have known this great man," says a writer in the Edinburgh Review," and have followed him through his brilliant and diversified career, will not charge us with overstrained panegyric, when we say, that in all the lists of fame which we have enumerated, he not only attained a pre-eminent distinction, but acquired a reputation in each, which might have gratified the ambition of any common aspirant for fame." His character

ranked high both as a philosopher and a statesman. Our object, however, at present, is to exhibit him in neither of these capacities, but as the father of the amiable, the accomplished, the pious Clementine. Dutiful in her conduct, and affectionate in her disposition, he loved her perhaps too strongly; and when, at length, by the mysterious arrangements of Him who cannot err, she was consigned to an early grave, the feelings of the parent were so deeply wounded that his health became permanently affected, and ere long his useful life was brought to a close.

Sophia Laura Clementine Cuvier was born at Paris in 1805. From her childhood she displayed a vigour of mind and a desire for knowledge peculiarly promising in one so young; but what more especially gratified her parents was the gentleness of her disposition and feelings. Her health was never robust; frequent complaints interrupted her studies, but notwithstanding this, her progress was astonishing. And not only in secular pursuits did she evince a desire to excel; in the knowledge of divine things, also, she made the most satisfactory attainments. Reared by her parents in the pure principles of the Protestant faith, she early manifested a lively interest in the Scriptures. She read them frequently, and with an avidity which, under the divine blessing, was followed by a most minute and accurate acquaintance with the truths of the Bible.

At the age of thirteen, Clementine accompanied her father on a visit to England, and during this excursion a circumstance occurred which showed how deeply she was imbued with a spirit of piety and prayer. She

accidentally lost a small manual of devotion, which she had been in the habit of using, and, to the surprise of her friends, when the book was found, it was discovered that all the prayers contained in it, were not only in the hand-writing of Clementine, but were actually her own composition. As she advanced in years, a fine Christian spirit seemed to actuate her whole conduct. In every good work she took a lively interest; she visited the dwellings of the poor, and, supplying their temporal wants as far as possible, she comforted them in their distress, and pointed them to the unfailing source of all true consolation and joy. The Bible was dear to her heart, and she felt a high delight in recommending its glorious truths to others. Often would she seat herself in the cottage of the humble peasant, and, with a countenance lit up with holy fervour, her fine intelligent eye beaming with a purer intensity, she would urge, in strains of more than earthly eloquence, the claims of Him who came to 66 seek and to save that which was lost."

In the discharge of the office she was most exemclasses of the school, but The case of the poor was

Clementine was one of a committee of twelve ladies who inspected the female school connected with the Lutheran Church in Paris. duties connected with this plary, visiting not only the the houses of the parents. never made known to her in vain. She listened to their tale of woe with an attention and tender sympathy which gained their confidence and affection. By her instrumentality, a society was formed of young Protestants belonging to the Lutheran and the Reformed communions, the object of which was to supply

food and clothing to the poor. Clementine was, besides, a collector for the Female Auxiliary Bible Society, and the Evangelical Missionary Society. She also frequently visited the Alms-house for aged Protestant females, to read the Scriptures and pray with them.

While thus actively engaged in promoting the cause of Christ to the utmost extent of her ability, this amiable young lady was seized with an affection of the chest, which excited considerable alarm in the minds of her parents and friends. It was towards the close of the year 1826 that the pulmonary symptoms first began to develop themselves; and for nearly three months she was confined to her bed. During this illness her mind was brought more completely under the sanctifying influence of the truth as it is in Jesus. She thought, and read, and prayed much, and her soul thirsted after a nearness of communion with her God and Saviour. Earth and earthly objects dwindled, in her view, into utter insignificance, when compared, or rather contrasted, with things spiritual and divine. It was her delight to dwell in thought upon the love of Christ; and while it presented itself to her mind in all its impressive grandeur and sublimity, she felt that her affections flowed forth in the most ardent responsive love to Him who hath loved us with an everlasting love, and in mercy hath redeemed us. Now, if not before, she was prepared, in some measure, to comprehend with all saints the height and the depth, the breadth and the length, of the love of God in Christ Jesus, which passeth all understanding. While her heart thus glowed with gratitude to a redeeming God and Saviour, she directed her thoughts with the most in

tense application to the truths of religion. Distant alike from the pride of reason and the bewilderments of an ill-regulated imagination, she calmly and impartially examined into her real condition and character, and consulted such works as were likely to enlarge her knowledge both of the letter and spirit of the Bible. The books which were at this time the companions of her sick-bed, were Buck's Christian Experience, Scott's Force of Truth, Gregory's Evidences, Appia's Christian Life, and several works of Dr. Chalmers. These she read carefully, and extracted those passages which tended to bring her mind and will more completely into captivity to the obedience of Christ.

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Though in her reason, however, Clementine was fully convinced of the truth and inspiration of the Scriptures, she complained much that her heart was not sufficiently impressed with the value of those blessings which are proposed for our acceptance as sinners. But she well knew that faith is not of ourselves-it is the gift of God; and, accordingly, we find her writing to a friend in these words: "Every day brings me fresh proof of my own insufficiency; but Ask, and it shall be given you; knock, and it shall be opened unto you'-these words save me from despair." The following sentiments, contained in another letter written about the same time, show that she felt deeply her obligations to the sovereign grace of God: "It is not God the Creator of the world that we really love, but God the Saviour God who receives us graciously. The heart only feels real love to God, as it embraces the mysteries of the Gospel. The mercy of God, his love for sinful creatures, is manifested in an admirable manner and