LIVES
OF
DISTINGUISHED SCIENTIFIC MEN.
THE HISTORY OF MY YOUTH:
AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF FRANCIS ARAGO.
I have not the foolish vanity to imagine that any one, even a short time hence, will have the curiosity to find out how my first education was given, and how my mind was developed; but some biographers, writing off hand and without authority, having given details on this subject utterly incorrect, and of a nature to imply negligence on the part of my parents, I consider myself bound to put them right.
I was born on the 26th of February, 1786, in the commune of Estagel, an ancient province of Roussillon (department of the Eastern Pyrenees). My father, a licentiate in law, had some little property in arable land, in vineyards, and in plantations of olive-trees, the income from which supported his numerous family.
I was thus three years old in 1789, four years old in 1790, five years in 1791, six years in 1792, and seven years old in 1793, &c.
The reader has now himself the means of judging whether, as has been said, and even stated in print, I had a hand in the excesses of our first revolution.