GEORGE LOUIS LE CLERC, COMTE DE, a celebrated naturalist, was born at Montbard in Burgundy, on the 7th of September 1707. His father, Benjamin le Clerc, was a counsellor of the parliament of Dijon; and the son was destined to the same office, if science had not drawn him away from the law. He studied at Dijon; and his eager activity, his acuteness, penetration, and robust constitution, fitted him to pursue business and pleasure with equal ardour. His early passion was for astronomy; and the young Le Clerc was seldom without Euclid in his pocket. At the age of twenty he travelled in Italy in company with the young Duke of Kingston and his tutor; but he overlooked the choicest remains of art, and amidst the ruins of an elegant and luxurious people he first felt the charms of natural history, of which he afterwards proved the zealous and successful expounder. On his return to France he fought, on some accidental quarrel, with an Englishman, whom he wounded, and in consequence was obliged to retire to Paris, where he translated Newton's Fluxions from the Latin, and Hale's Statics from the English into the French language. He went to England at the age of twenty-five, and remained there about three months. This concluded his travels. Having at the age of twenty-one succeeded to the estate of his mother, which was valued at about 300,000 livres, or L12,000 sterling, he was enabled to pursue the career of letters without any of the difficulties that often beset literary men. Perhaps this was the period of his retirement to Montbard, where he spent much of his time, and where his leisure was little interrupted; for whilst he resided in the capital, his office of intendant of the king's garden and cabinet engrossed much of his attention. He spent fourteen hours every day in study; yet when we examine the extent of his knowledge and the number of his works, we wonder at his having accomplished so much even in that time. At five in the morning he retired to a pavilion in his vast gardens, and he was then inaccessible. This was, as Prince Henry of Prussia called it, the cradle of natural history; but she was indifferently accommodated. The walls were naked; and an old writing-table, with pen, ink, and paper, and an elbow-chair of black leather, were the only furniture of his study. His manuscripts were in a cabinet in another building, and he went occasionally from one to the other. The eras of Buffon's works are pretty well known. When each was finished it was put aside, in order that he might forget it, and afterwards return to it with the severity of a disinterested critic. He was anxious to render it perspicuous; and if those to whom he read his works hesitated a moment, he changed the passage. The works of others he often read like Magiabechi, confining himself to the titles, the contents, and the most interesting parts; but he perused M. Neckar's Compte Rendu, and the Administration of the Finances, from beginning to end, and spoke of them with no little enthusiasm. His favourite authors were Fénelon, Montesquieu, and Richardson.

M. de Buffon's conversation was unadorned, rarely animated, but sometimes very cheerful. He was exact in his dress, particularly in arranging his hair. He liked to sit long at table; at which time his conversation was unembarrassed, and his guests had frequently occasion to notice some happy turn of phrase, or some deep reflection. His self complaisance was very considerable. He loved praise, and even praised himself; yet it was with such frankness, and with so little contempt of others, that it was seldom disagreeable. Indeed, when we consider the extent of his reputation, the credit of his works, and the attention with which they were always received, we can scarcely be surprised that he was apt to appear conscious of his own value. It may here be proper to observe, that although the works of this philosopher afford grounds for the charge of infidelity brought against him, yet it would appear that he was able to give to the Sorbonne a satisfactory explanation of the offensive passages. At the same time, however, the interests of religion and morality require that the licentiousness of his conduct, and his enmity to the Christian faith, should not be passed over in silence. The longevity of Buffon's family was somewhat remarkable. His father lived to the age of ninety-three; his grandfather to that of eighty-seven; and the subject of the present memoir exceeded eighty. In his latter years he suffered severely from the stone, but would never submit to the operation of lithotomy. He died at Paris on the 16th of April 1788. He left one son, who erected in the gardens of Montbard a low column with an inscription to his memory. This son, who was a colonel of cavalry, fell a victim to the tyranny of Robespierre, only fifteen days before the downfall of that monster.

The editions of the several works of Buffon are numerous. An edition of the whole has been published in 35 vols. 4to; and another in 62 vols. 12mo.