COUNT RUMFORD. 153 



.... She married him, happy to offer to a dis- 

 tinguished man a great fortune and a most agreeable 

 existence.' Guizot, who writes thus, goes on to state 

 that their characters and temperaments were incom- 

 patible. They had both grown to maturity accustomed 

 to independence, which it is not always easy even for 

 tender affection to stifle. The lady had stipulated, on 

 her second marriage, that she should be permitted to 

 retain the name of Lavoisier, calling herself Madame 

 Lavoisier de Rumford. This proved disagreeable to 

 the Count, but she was not to be moved from her de- 

 termination to retain the name. * I have,' she says, 

 * at the bottom of my heart a profound conviction that 

 M. de Rumford will not disapprove of me for it, and 

 that on taking time for reflection, he will permit me 

 to continue to fulfil a duty which I regard as sacred.' 

 Guizot adds that the hope proved deceptive, and that 

 ' after some domestic agitations, which M. de Rumford, 

 with more of tact, might have kept from becoming 

 so notorious, a separation became necessary.' Guizot 

 describes her dinners and receptions during the re- 

 maining twenty-seven years of her life as delightful. 

 Cultivated intellects, piquant and serious conversation, 

 excellent music, freedom of mind and tongue, without 

 personal antagonism or political bias, * license of thought 

 and speech without any distrust or disquiet as to what 

 Authority might judge or say a privilege then more 

 precious than any one to-day imagines, just as one who 

 has breathed under an air-pump can best appreciate 

 the delight of free respiration.' One cannot, however, 

 forget the pouring of boiling water over the ' beautiful 

 flowers.' 



The * Gentleman's Magazine ' for 1814 describes the 

 seclusion in which Rumford's later days were spent. 



