6 Biographical account of 



would have figured as a poet. But more useful work was 

 in store for him. In February, 1801, he went to London, 

 having been appointed assistant lecturer at the Royal In- 

 stitution, a fine establishment, founded by an American of 

 considerable celebrity, Count Rumford. He delivered his 

 first lecture in the course of six weeks after, and was favour- 

 ably received. It has been asserted, that the simplicity of 

 Davy after this time was converted into flippancy and 

 neglect of friendships. However much this assertion may 

 have been overstrained, it is generally understood that 

 his demeanour underwent a change, and that his manners 

 were not sufficiently of that open, frank, and unostentatious 

 kind which are so becoming in the true philosopher. 



Davy's success was remarkable, and it would have re- 

 quired uncommon care to have seasoned his mind against 

 the tempting powers which were mustered around him. It 

 has been stated, that he now " assumed the garb and airs 

 of a man of fashion," that " the bloom of his simplicity was 

 dulled by the breath of adulation." Dr. Davy excited by 

 those affectionate feelings which are so delightfully apparent 

 in every page of his life of his brother, has denied that 

 there is any truth in these calumnies, as he appears to 

 consider them. He has, in consequence, brought forward 

 proofs from a number of individuals to whom he wrote 

 friendly letters, as he considers them, that Davy was not 

 what he has been represented to be in this respect. But, if 

 such letters prove any thing, they only shew that towards 

 those individuals he entertained the feelings expressed in 

 his letters. They do not prove that he did not exhibit 

 hauteur to other individuals, or that his notions and man- 

 ners were not too aristocratical for a man of science. His 

 success as a lecturer, however, was at once complete. He 

 was received by crowded audiences, and the Institution 

 became a fashionable resort. 



During the greater part of the day he was engaged with 

 the business of the laboratory, where the powers of his ex- 

 panding mind were applied to original research. Yet his 

 time was not systematically occupied. When in town, he 

 generally entered the laboratory after breakfast, about ten 

 or eleven o'clock, and if uninterrupted remained there till 

 three or four. Instead of returning to the laboratory after 



