348 Decline of Science in England. 



3. The supineness of the sovereigns and cabinets of England, 

 and the indifference of the aristocracy to the great objects of 

 science, have been so fully treated in Mr Babbage's book and 

 in the article on the decline of science in the Quarterly Review, 

 that we shall confine ourselves to a reply to the observations 

 on these subjects made in the pamphlet under consideration. 



Our author admits " that Sir H. Davy's remark, " that the 

 " aristocracy may be searched in vain for philosophers, 1 ' may 

 " be very just ; and it is indeed to be lamented." He adds, 

 " that noblemen, as the Earl of Macclesfied and the late Duke 

 " of Marlborough, do not find many imitators amongst the 

 " English nobility." Desirous, however, of finding some ex- 

 ception to Sir H. Davy's observation, he afterwards remarks, 

 " that it must not be forgotten that the first poet of the age 

 " (Lord Byron) rose to such literary eminence from a seat in 

 " the British House of Lords;" as if this had any thing what- 

 ever to do with the subject under discussion. " Perhaps the 

 " cause of this neglect," he observes, " may be traced to the 

 " circumstances that individuals moving in those higher spheres 

 " of society may obtain those distinctions, (the honours of the 

 " peerage,) zvhich are objects of honest ambition, at a more 

 " easy rate than by labouring in the field of science.'''' If this is 

 not a well merited sneer at our mode of conferring honours, it 

 indicates great simplicity and ignorance on the part of an au- 

 thor. He surely does not believe that any labours in the field 

 of science, however brilliant in themselves and useful to the 

 nation, could by any possibility obtain such honours ; and he 

 cannot but know that the easy rate to which he refers is no- 

 thing more than the possession of great wealth, the exhibition 

 of military or naval prowess ; the dominion over rotten bo- 

 roughs, and the maximum of political subserviency. 



But, notwithstanding all these admissions, the author will 

 not allow " that science is therefore declining in England, 

 " unless it could be shown that the same reproach attaches to 

 " other classes of society." He is of opinion that the English 

 people are great patrons of science, " and that science has 

 " a better chance in England than elsewhere of securing an 

 " honest independence to its possessor. Dr Wollaston," he 

 continues, " by his scientific exertions, procured himself that 

 " pecuniary supply without which the greatest genius and 



