840 Biographical Memoir of Dr Thomas Young. 



tonian theory of light, naturally became the first object of our 

 communication with Dr Young. We were astonished at the 

 numerous restrictions he put upon our commendations, and in 

 the end he told us that the experiment about which we made so 

 much ado was published in his work on Natural Philosophy as 

 early as 1807. This assertion did not appear to us correct, and 

 this rendered the discussion lonoj and minute. Mrs Youno^ was 

 present, and did not appear to take any interest in the conversa- 

 tion ; but, as we knew that the fear, however puerile, of passing 

 for learned ladies — of being designated Blue-StocMngs — made 

 the English ladies very reserved in the presence of strangers, our 

 want of politeness did not strike us till the moment Mrs Young 

 rose up suddenly and left the room. We immediately offered 

 our most urgent apologies to her husband, when Mrs Young 

 returned, with an enormous quarto under her arm. It was the 

 first volume of the " Natural Philosophy." She placed it on the 

 table, opened it without saying a word at page 787, and pointed 

 with her finger to a figure where the curved line of the diffract- 

 ed bands, on which the discussion turned, appeared theoretically 

 established. 



I hope I shall be pardoned for these little details. Too many 

 examples have almost accustomed the public to consider that ne- 

 glect, injustice, persecution, and misery, are the natural rewards 

 of those who laboriously consecrate their powers to the develope- 

 ment of the human mind. Let us not, then, forget to point out 

 the exceptions when they occur. If we wish our youth to devote 

 themselves with ardour to intellectual labour, let us shew them 

 that there is a glory attached to great discoveries, which some- 

 times allies itself to somewhat of tranquillity and happiness. Let 

 us even tear, if it be possible, from the history of science all those 

 leaves which tarnish its brightness. Let us try to persuade our- 

 selves that, in the dungeons of the Inquisition, a friendly voice 

 whispered to Galileo some of those precious epithets which pos- 

 terity applies to his memory ; that within the thick walls of the 

 Bastile, Freret was apprized by the learned world of the glorious 

 rank which was reserved for him amongst the scholars by whom 

 France is honoured ; that, before going to expire in the hospital, 

 BorelU sometimes found in Rome a shelter from the storm, a little 

 straw on which to rest his head ; and, finally, that Kepler, the 

 great Kepler, never endured the agonies of hunger. 



