Ehge of' Alexander Volta. 81 



not enter, as a particular case, into the great phenomena of vol- 

 taic electricity ; yet, at the same time, they never spoke of 



the phenomena but with admiration — never did an Italian mouth 

 pronounce the name of the inventor of the pile, without accom- 

 panying it with the most unequivocal marks of esteem and re- 

 spect — without uniting it to a word of expressive simplicity, 

 very endearing to the ears of a citizen, for never, from Kove- 

 rcdo to Messina, do the educated inhabitants spetik of the phi* 

 losopher of Pavia, but as our Volta. 



I have already mentioned the dignities conferred on him hy> 

 Napoleon. All the great academies of Europe had already en- 

 rolled him among their numbers. He was one of the eight fo- 

 reign associates of the first class of the Institute. So many ho»i 

 nours never excited in Volta's mind one emotion of pride. Thii 

 little town of Como continued to be his favourite abode. Th^ 

 tempting and repeated offers of Russia, could not induce him to 

 change the pure sky of Milan for the fogs of the Newa. 



A strong and rapid judgment, lofty and comprehensive ideas^ 

 and an affectionate and sincere disposition, were the dominating 

 qualities of the professor's mind. Ambition, thirst of gold, and 

 a spirit of rivalry, were not the springs of any of his actions. Irl 

 him the love of study, which was the only passion he seems td 

 have felt, was free from all worldly alliance. 



Volta was of a lofty stature, his features noble and regular 

 like those of an ancient statue, his forehead expansive, and 

 deeply furrowed with laborious thought, and in his look tran- 

 quillity of heart and penetration of mind were equally depicted. 

 His manners always retained traces of the rusticity contracted in 

 his youth. Many recollect of seeing him when in Paris daily 

 enter the bakers' shops, and purchase rolls of bread, which he 

 eat as he went along the streets, without ever suspecting that he 

 was doing any thing to attract observation. I shall be pardon- 

 ed, I hope, for mentioning these minute particulars. Has not 

 Fontenelle related that Newton had a thick head of hair ; that 

 he never used spectacles, and that he had lost only one tooth ? 

 So much do great names justify and ennoble the most trifling 

 details ! 



When Volta quitted definitively in 1819, his charge in the 

 University of Tesin, he retired to Como. From this period all 



