The chief fault in the system of the Abbé de l’Epée seems to have consisted in its being the philosophy of the master, not sufficiently lowered to the comprehension of the pupil; a common error for master-minds to fall into. The pupil might mechanically translate methodical signs into language, without knowing the ideas intended to be conveyed by such signs and by such language. Has not this always been a fault among the instructors of youth? Our school books of the present day contain sufficient evidence of this failing. Before the time of Pestalozzi it was scarcely dreamed of, that the teacher should exchange places with the learner; that he should suffer himself to be led by his pupil to a certain point, in order that he might commence his superstructure on the foundation already formed; that he should ascertain the manner in which infantine impressions are received, and become acquainted with the bent and genius of his pupil, to enable him to determine upon the best mode of rendering his lessons beneficial, so as to correct that which is erroneous, and develop that which is hidden. This is the “true method of instructing the deaf and dumb,” and not less the true method of instructing children gifted with all their faculties. If the good Abbé committed only that error, which was common in his generation, and which is still too common in ours; if he taught words instead of ideas—what did he less than others? This is the great fault in all our seminaries of learning.
The number of children under the care of the Abbé de l’Epée was very considerable. We read in one part of his writings of six hundred and eight pupils having been at various times under instruction, and this was written several years before he closed his career of usefulness. Again we read of upwards of sixty pupils being under his care at one time. All this was performed for the poor, unassisted by any pecuniary aid except his own patrimony. It is stated that the income which the Abbé de l’Epée inherited from his father amounted to about 400l. sterling; of this sum he allowed about 100l. per annum for his own expenses, and he considered the remainder as the inheritance of his adopted children,—the indigent deaf and dumb,—to whose use it was faithfully applied. “The rich,” says he, “only come to my house by tolerance; it is not to them that I devote myself, it is to the poor; but for these I should never have undertaken the education of the deaf and dumb.” There was no kind of privation which he did not impose on himself for the sake of his pupils. In order to supply their wants he limited his own. So strictly did he adhere to the appropriation which he had made of his income, that in the rigorous winter of 1788, when suffering under the infirmities of age, he denied himself fuel, in order not to intrench upon the moderate sum to which he confined his annual expenditure. All the remonstrances of his friends on this point were fruitless. His housekeeper having observed his rigid restriction, and doubtless imputing it to its real motive, led into his apartment his forty pupils, who conjured him to preserve himself for their sakes. He yielded, not without difficulty, to their persuasions, but afterwards reproached himself for this concession. Having exceeded his ordinary expenditure by about 300 livres (about 12l.), he would afterwards exclaim in the midst of his pupils, “My poor children, I have wronged you of a hundred crowns!”
With that liberality which ever characterizes the true friend of mankind, the good Abbé formed preceptors for many institutions. Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, Holland, and many other countries participated in the benefits which were being conferred on the deaf-mutes of Paris.
It is worthy of remark that two of the most eminent European sovereigns of that day encouraged the labours of the Abbé de l’Epée—Catherine II., Empress of Russia, and Joseph II., Emperor of Germany. In 1780 the ambassador of Catherine waited upon the Abbé to congratulate him in her name, and to offer him rich presents from that Empress, who knew well how to appreciate all that was truly great. “My lord,” said the Abbé, “ I never receive gold; tell her majesty, that if my labours have appeared to her to claim her esteem, all that I ask is that she will send me a deaf and dumb person, or a master to be instructed in this art of teaching.” The Emperor Joseph bestowed a still more flattering notice upon these labours. After witnessing the success of the Abbé de l’Epée, he resolved to found in his own dominions an institution so necessary to the wants of his subjects. During two hours and a half, the qualifications attainable by the deaf and dumb, when their powers have been properly developed, were attentively regarded by the Emperor, who had in his thoughts a young lady of high birth at Vienna in this deplorable state, whose parents wished to give her a Christian education. On being consulted as to the measures to be taken for this end, the Abbé offered either to educate the young lady gratuitously, if she were brought to Paris; or to instruct any intelligent person, who might be sent to him, in the method to be pursued. The Emperor accepted the latter proposal, as it opened the prospect of permanent relief for others of his subjects who might be in the same affecting circumstances. On his return to Vienna, he addressed a highly flattering letter to M. de l’Epée by the Abbé Storch, the person whom he selected for introducing the education of deaf-mutes into his dominions. The Abbé Storch is spoken of by the Abbé de l’Epée as “filled with the purest sacerdotal spirit, and amply endowed with every talent his mission could require.” A royal institution for deaf-mutes was founded at Vienna, which was the first national establishment ever erected for the deaf and dumb.
A subject of painful and anxious interest occupied the thoughts of the Abbé de l’Epée during his declining years. He had solicited from government an endowment to perpetuate his institution after his own death, but he obtained only promises. However, he knew that his art would exist in Vienna if it should be forgotten at Paris, and this gave him some consolation. When the Emperor Joseph visited his institution he expressed his astonishment, that a man so deserving had not obtained at least an abbey, whose revenues he might apply to the wants of the deaf and dumb. He offered to ask one for him, or even to give him one in his own dominions. “I am already old,” said M. de l’Epée: “if your majesty wishes well to the deaf and dumb, it is not on my head, already bending to the tomb, that the benefit must fall, it is on the work itself.”
M. de l’Epée found, however, some feeling hearts in France. Many masters, taught by him, carried the fruits of his instructions into different cities in that kingdom, as well as into foreign countries. At Bordeaux an establishment had been formed by the archbishop, M. de Cicé, which owed its celebrity to its instructor, the Abbé Sicard, a young priest who had been sent to learn the theory and the practice of the method employed by the illustrious teacher at Paris. It is said by De Gerando, that “the pupil soon became acquainted with his master’s views, and seized them with enthusiasm.” He was eminently calculated to see their value. Gifted with a vivid and fertile imagination, he had a singular ability in clothing abstract notions in sensible forms; he had a particular talent for that pantomime which is the proper language of the deaf-mute, and which the Abbé de l’Epée had proposed to carry to a high degree of developement in his system of methodic signs: endowed with an enterprising and flexible mind, he would search for and discover new and various modes of expressing and explaining ideas and precepts. He appeared to possess a kind of natural talent for communicating with deaf-mutes.
This was the man who was destined to succeed M. de l’Epée. His talents and his virtues proved him to be worthy of receiving that inheritance of glory and of beneficence. His successes filled his master with joy, who, in the overflowing of his hopes, said to him one day, “Mon ami, j’ai trouvé le verre, c’est à vous d’en faire les lunettes.” A testimony as honourable to the modesty of the one, as to the talent of the other. Sicard was in full possession of his master’s ideas; amply has he developed and extended them by his own clear and analytical mind.
If the Abbé de l’Epée was not the first inventor of a system for teaching the deaf and dumb, he was the first who benefited society by any extensive application of the discovery. We hesitate not to assert that he was an inventor of great merit, particularly as regards those details which made the discovery of service to those for whose instruction it was designed. Previous to his time, it had been discussed rather as a possible, than as an extensively practicable, art; and the few persons who had been previously instructed must be viewed more as the results of experiments to test philosophical principles, than as pupils regularly and systematically taught.
The Abbé de l’Epée died December 23, 1789. The Abbé Fauchet, preacher to the king, pronounced his funeral oration; but next to his mute eulogists in all countries, M. de Bébian and M. Bouilly have been the means of making known his fame and his merits to the world. From their writings much of the present Memoir is derived. M. de Seine, a deaf-mute pupil of the Abbé de l’Epée, wrote the following distich to be placed under the bust of his benevolent teacher:—
“Il révèle à la fois secrets merveilleux,