, was born at Paris in 1717, and destined to supply his father’s place
, was
born at Paris in 1717, and destined to supply his father’s
place in the parliament of that city as a judge, as well as
that of his uncle in the same situation. He made choice
of the one of them that would give him the least trouble, and
afford him the most leisure for his benevolent projects.
Medicine was his favourite study. This he practised on
the poor only, with such an ardour and activity of mind,
that the hours which many persons give to sleep, he bestowed upon the assistance of the sick. To make himself
more useful to them, he had learned to bleed, which operation he performed with all the dexterity of the most experienced surgeon. His disposition to do good appeared so
early that when he was a boy, he used to give to the poor
the money which other boys spent in general in an idle and
unprofitable manner. He was once very much in love with a
young lady of great beauty and accomplishment; but
imagining that she would not make him a suitable assistant
in his attendance upon the poor, he gave over all thoughts
of marriage; not very wisely, perhaps, sacrificing to the
extreme delicacy of one woman only his attachment to
that sex, in whose tenderness of disposition, and in whose
instinctive quickness of feeling, he would have found tluufc
reciprocation of benevolence he was anxious to procure.
He was so forcibly struck with the wretched situation of
the great hospital of Paris (the Hotel Dieu, as it is called),
where the dead, the dying, and the living, are very often
crowded together in the same bed (five persons at a time occasionally occupying the same bed), that he wrote a
plan of reform for that hospital, which he shewed in manuscript to the famous John James Rousseau, requesting
him to correct it for him. “What correction,
” replied
Rousseau, “can a work want, that one cannot read without shuddering at the horrid pictures it represents? What
is the end of writing if it be not to touch and interest the
passions?
” M. de Chamousset was occasionally the author
of many benevolent and useful schemes; such as the establishment of the penny post at Paris; the bringing good
water to that city; a plan for a house of association, by
which any man, for a small sum of money deposited, may
be taken care of when he is sick; and many others; not
forgetting one for the abolition of begging, which is to
be found in “Lesvues d'uncitoyen.
” M. de Chamousset
was now so well known as a man of active and useful benevolence, that M. de Choiseul (when he was in the war department) made him, in 1761, intendant-general of the
military hospitals of France, the king, Louis XV. telling
him, “that he had never, since he came to the throne,
made out an appointment so agreeable to himself;
” and
added, “I am sure I can never make any one that will be
of such service to my troops.
” The pains he took in this
employment were incredible. His attention to his situation was so great, and conducted with such good sense
and understanding, that the marshal de Soubise, on visiting
one of the great military hospitals at Dusseldorf, under
the care of M. de Chamousset, said, “This is the first time
I have been so happy as to go round an hospital without
hearing any complaints.
” Another marshal of France told
his wife: “Were I sick,
” said he, “I would be taken to
the hospital of which M. de Chamousset has the management.
” M. de Chamousset was one day saying to the
minister, that he would bring into a court of justice the
peculation and rapine of a particular person. “God forbid you should!
” answered the minister, “you run a risk
of not dying in your bed.
” “I had rather,
” replied he,
“die in any manner you please, than live to see my country devoured by scoundrels.
”