Thus, from earliest infancy, they are wont to shift with every wind.

The head of a Langrois stands on his shoulders like a weathercock on the top of a church-steeple; it is never steady at one point, and, if it comes round again to that which it had left, it is not to stop there.

As for me, I am of my country; only residence of the capital and constant application have corrected me a little." [Illustration: Diderot----314] Narrow circumstances had their share in the versatility of Diderot's genius as well as in the variety of his labors.

Son of a cutler at Langres, a strict and virtuous man, Denys Diderot, born in 1715, had at first been intended by his father for the church.

He was educated at Harcourt College, and he entered an attorney's office.