Decline of Science in England. 335 



to the able and honest and patriotic expostulations of these 

 great men. Having expended their munitions of war in spe- 

 cial pleadings, in the grossest perversion of well known facts, 

 the heroes of the mask have at last been driven to the expe- 

 dient of subsidizing a scientific foreigner. We regret to find 

 that so excellent and eminent an individual as Mr Faraday has 

 been the Charge d* Affaires who has negotiated this loan of exo- 

 tic talent ; but though it is gratifying to find that he abjures 

 the idea of having by this act " expressed an opinion on the 

 subject either one way or the other ;" yet it will be seen from 

 an expression in his preface, which we subjoin, that he has 

 more than identified himself with the author on the general 

 question, however anxious he may have been to renounce the 

 heavy responsibility of having given an editorial sanction to 

 those severe animadversions on the Institutions of France, 

 and on the personal characters of her most distinguished phi- 

 losophers, which constitute so remarkable and so unpleasant a 

 feature in the present pamphlet. 



" The MSS," says Mr Faraday, " in English, of the following 

 " series of arguments was sent me by the writer, an eminent 

 " scientific foreigner, in consequence of a few remarks in our 

 " mutual correspondence upon some recent publications in 

 " England. Without being considered as expressing an opi- 

 " nion on the subject either one way or the other, I am still 

 " desirous of placing my friend's reasons before the public ; 

 " not merely because no one can judge correctly who has heard 

 " but one side of a question, but also as a great literary curi- 

 ** osity ; for all must allow that it is an extraordinary circuni- 

 " stance for English character to be attacked by natives and 

 " defended by foreigners. 



" I have scrupulously refrained from altering the language; 

 " preferring rather that a few quaint expressions should re- 

 " main than that so distinctive a characteristic should be lost. 



" For the clearer comprehension of certain passages, I 

 " ought to say that it has been in my possession at least four 

 " months. 



" August 1831. M. Faraday." 



When Mr Faraday remarks that " it is an extraordinary 

 circumstance for English character to be attacked by natives 



NEW SEBIE8, VOL. \. \<>. M. 0CT0BEB 1831. v 



