[26] De la Metherie says, (_Journ. de Phys. Nov. 1792_,) that Condorcet was brought up in the house of the old Duke of Rochefoucault, who treated him as his son--got Turgot to create a lucrative office for him, and raised him to all his eminence--yet he pursued him with malicious reports--and actually employed ruffians to assassinate him. Yet is Condorcet's writing a model of humanity and tenderness. A most worthy and accomplished gentleman, who took refuge in this country, leaving behind him his property, and friends to whom he was most tenderly attached, often said to me that nothing so much affected him as the revolution in the hearts of men.--Characters which were unspotted, hearts thoroughly known to himself, having been tried by many things which search the inmost folds of selfishness or malevolence--in short, persons whose judgments were excellent, and on whose worth he could have rested his honour and his life, so fascinated by the contagion, that they came at last to behold, and even to commit the most atrocious crimes with delight.--He used sometimes to utter a sigh which pierced my heart, and would say, that it was caused by some of those things that had come across his thoughts. He breathed his last among us, declaring that it was impossible to recover peace of mind, without a total oblivion of the wickedness and miseries he had beheld.--What a valuable advice, "Let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall."--When the prophet told Hazael that he would betray his Prince, he exclaimed, "Is thy servant a dog, that he should do such a thing?" Yet next day he murdered him.