48 Dr Davy's Bemarks on the Claims to the 



conviction in my own mind that I was their superior, or from 

 an indolence that makes it easier to me to bear wrongs than 

 to seek redress. In point of interest, in so far as is con- 

 nected with money, that would be no bar ; for though I am 

 dependent on the favour of the public, I am not on Mr C. or 

 his friends, and could despise the united power of the ' illus- 

 trious house of Cavendish,' as Mr Fox calls them." He adds, 

 " you may, perhaps, be surpi'ised to find so much jjride in my 

 character. It does not seem vei'v compatible with the dif- 

 fidence that attends my conduct in general. I am diffident, 

 because I am seldom certain that I am in the right, and be- 

 cause I pay respect to the opinions of others where I think 

 they may merit it. At present, Je me sens un peu blesse ; 

 it seems hard, that in the first attempt I have made to lay 

 anything before the public, I should be thus anticipated. It 

 will make me cautious how I take the trouble of preparing 

 anything for them another time. I defer coming to any reso- 

 lution till I see you ; but at present I think reading the let- 

 ter at the Royal Society to be the proper step."* 



M. de Luc, in reply to this letter, writing on the 10th 

 April 1784, desires to have a corrected copy of Mr Watt's 

 paper retaining the original date. His words are : — " Mais 

 si vous souhaitez que ces lettres soient lues, envoyez moi 

 d'avance la nouvelle edition (the corrected copy X) de celle 

 que vous m'aviez ecrite le 26 Novembre ; en y mettant la 

 nieme date ; afin que la traduction que j'en ferai, soit daccord 

 avec ce qui sera lu a la Societe.'' This advice he followed, 

 as would appear from a letter from him to Sir Joseph Banks, 

 of the 17th April, in which he says, after alluding to certain 

 alterations and additions, — " I thought it right to apprise 

 you of these alterations, lest it should be said by any body 

 that the letter was fabricated at a later date than it bears." 

 Judging from the letters which are given in the corre- 

 spondence of Mr Watt and Sir Joseph Banks, then President 

 of the Royal Society, and of Sir Charles Blagdon, the Secre- 

 tary of the Society, the' most courteous attention was paid by 

 them to Mr Watt on the matter under consideration, Avith an 



* Corrcsponilence, p. 49. 



, 



