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Biographical Memwr of ( *ount Rum ford. 43 



V 



spoke in it of what he proposed as of a thing in a great measure real- 

 ized. A vast house presented all kinds of trades and machines in ac- 

 tion; a library was formed in it; a beautiful ampitheatre was con- 

 structed, in which were delivered lectures on chemistry, mechanics, 

 and political economy. Heat and light, the two favorite subjects of 

 Count Rumford, and the mysterious process of combustion, which 

 puts them at the disposal of man, were to be continually submitted 

 to examination. 



This Prospectus is dated at London the 21st January, 1800, and 

 the foundation of the Royal Institution was the work of fifteen suc- 

 ceeding months which Count Rumford passed in England, with the 

 hope of settling there. 



After having been loaded, during fourteen years, by the Elector 

 Charles Theodore, with proofs of an always increasing favor, after 

 having received from him, at the period of the famous campaign of 

 1796, the difficult trust of commanding his army, and of maintain- 

 ing the neutrality of his capital against the two great powers that 

 seemed equally anxious to attack it, Count Rumford obtained from 

 him as a final recompense, in 1798, the post which he most desired, 

 that of Minister Plenipotentiary at the Court of Great Britain. 



There could be nothing more flattering to him in fact than to be 

 enabled to return among his countrymen, and, according to the noble 

 expression of an ancient, to combine leisure with dignity. But his 

 hopes were frustrated. The usage of the English government does 

 not permit, that a man born its subject should be accredited to it as 

 the representative of another power, and the minister for foreign af- 

 fairs signified to Count Rumford, that it was resolved not to deviate 



from this usage. 



A still more acute disappointment soon after befel him. He was 

 informed of the death of the Prince, his benefactor, which happen- 

 ed in 1799, and he foresaw that he would have no less difficulty in 

 resuming his old than in exercising his new functions. In reality, 

 the Elector Joseph Maximilian was neither ignorant of his merit 

 nor of his services, and remembered that he was the first author of 

 his fortune ; but, with a different system of government, and oppo- 

 site political interests, it was natural that he should have other coun- 

 sellors than his predecessor, and Count Rumford was not of a char- 

 acter to enter into partnership. Besides, the happy changes which 

 he had effected, had rendered him less necessary, and his views, 

 which had been so useful when Bavaria required to be enlightened, 



