1883.] on Count Bumford, Originator of the Boyal Institution. 411 



fell thick upon him, Rumford was made a Count of the Holy Roman 

 Empire. He chose for his title Count Eumford, in memory of his 

 early association with Concord. 



" When Benjamin Thompson went to Concord as a teacher, he was 

 in the glory of his youth, not having yet reached manhood. His 

 friend Baldwin describes him as of a fine manly make and figure, 

 nearly six feet in height, of handsome features, bright blue eyes, and 

 dark auburn hair. He had the manners and polish of a gentleman, 

 with fascinating ways, and an ability to make himself agreeable."* In 

 Concord, at the time of Thompson's arrival, there dwelt the widow of 

 a Colonel Rolfe with her infant son. Her husband had died in 

 December 1771, leaving a large estate behind him. Eumford was 

 indebted to Mrs. Eolfe's father, the Eev. Timothy Walker, minister 

 of Concord, for counsel, and to her brother for civility and hos- 

 pitality. There the widow and the teacher met, and their meeting was 

 a prelude to their marriage. Eumford, somewhat ungallantly, told his 

 friend Pictet in after years that she married him rather than he her. 

 She was obviously a woman of decision. As soon as they were 

 engaged, an old curricle, left by her father, was fished up, and, therein 

 mounted, she carried Thompson to Boston, and committed him to the 

 care of the tailor and hairdresser. This journey involved a drive of 

 sixty miles. On the return, it is said, they called at the house of 

 Thompson's mother, who, when she saw him, exclaimed, " Why, Ben, 

 my son, how could you go and lay out all your winter's earnings in 

 finery ? " Thompson was nineteen when he married, his wife being 

 thirty-three. 



In 1772 he became acquainted with Governor Wentworth, then 

 resident at Portsmouth. On the 13th of November there was a grand 

 military review at Dover, New Hampshire, ten miles from Ports- 

 mouth, at which Thompson was present. On two critical occasions 

 in the life of this extraordinary man his appearance on horse- 

 back apparently determined the issues of that life. As he rode 

 among the soldiers at Dover, his figure attracted the attention of the 

 governor, and on the day following, he was the great man's guest. So 

 impressed was Wentworth with his conversation that he at once made 

 up his mind to attach Thompson to the public service. To secure this 



Koman-ford. That the Rum is English (= broad) is, I think, hardly open to 

 question. The nearest ford town is //ford, with which the rooiw/ ford contrasts. 

 Of late the sluggish little river has come to be called the river Rom. This is 

 quite a novel ' notion' and is quite local. 



" Thanking you for the pleasure and profit I have derived from reading your 



article, 



" I remain, dear Sir, 



" Yours very faithfully, 



" Henry Attwell. 



" Professor Tyndall, F.R.S. 

 &c. &c. &c." 



* Ellis, p. 43. 



