382 SIR RODERICK I. MURCHISON'S ADDRESS. [May 25, 1857. 



were to be discerned, indeed, in all his actions by tliose wbo knew 

 how quietly and unostentatiously he sustained with his purse men 

 of genius, who were labouring under difficulties, and who, but for 

 his timely aid, could never have produced works which have taken 

 a high place in science and letters.* These acts were well crowned 

 by that full-handed munificence with which he strove to succour 

 our famishing and ill-clad soldiers in the Crimeac 



In addition to the stores of varied knowledge which he could at 

 all times playfully and instructively draw forth from his capacious 

 mind, there was in Lord Ellesmere a fund of cheerful benevolence 

 which bound to him affectionately every one who enjoyed his 

 friendship. I cannot therefore better sum up the leading merits of 

 our former President than in the expressive words of one of his 

 most intimate and valued companions : — 



" His calm exterior and tranquil manner covered a deep-seated 

 enthusiasm for the honour of his country, for the progress and ame- 

 lioration of his species, and for all that was grand and noble in senti- 

 ment or in action. 



" They can bear testimony to this truth who have seen him kindle 

 over the recital of some great battle of the Great Duke, or some less 

 famous deed of individual heroism, — who have witnessed the eager 

 interest with which he watched the bold enterprises of modern 

 navigation, — or who have heard his lucid and animated explanations 

 of the mechanical inventions for diminishing labour, or perfecting 

 manufactures, in the vast workshops connected with his canal 

 propert}^. While his ardent spirit rejoiced in every discovery 

 achieved by science, and every new phase of beauty elicited by art, 

 his accumulated knowledge and cultivated taste enabled him to 

 appreciate the merit and calculate the consequences of each ; and 

 he was ever ready to employ the influence of his position, the vigour 

 and liveliness of his pen, and the princely contributions of his purse 

 for the furtherance of such purposes. 



" His high estimation and assiduous study of the science to which 

 the Geographical Society is especially devoted, were the result of 

 that large range of knowledge which opened his mind to its infinite 

 relations — moral and material, social and political — with the future 

 destinies of mankind. In him the geographer was blended with 

 the statesman and the philanthropist, not in wild and Utopian spe- 



* Let me cite one of several cases known to myself. When the eminent natu- 

 ralist Agassiz was likely to have the publication of his great work * Les Poissons 

 Fossiles' stopped for want of means, Lord Ellesmere gave 500/. for the original 

 drawings, which he immediately presented to the Geological Society. — E. I. M. 



