1838-39- RESIDENCE IN LONDON. 65 



present at a meeting of the Royal or any other of the 

 Societies. This is just the worst period of the year for 

 all these things. Some of them begin in November, the 

 majority not till February, the beginning of the fashionable 

 season, when the titled people return to town. I must, 

 therefore, depart without seeing these men and things. 

 Yet there is still a chance of seeing Faraday; but I fear 

 none of beholding the Queen." 



At the close of a month, when about to return to Edin- 

 burgh, the offer of a place as unsalaried assistant in the 

 Laboratory of Professor Graham, now Master of the Mint, 

 but then Professor of Chemistry in University College, 

 caused a complete change in George's plans. The advan- 

 tages it offered were too great not to weigh strongly with 

 him, as in no place in this country could better opportunity 

 present itself for acquiring a knowledge of analysis and the 

 other branches of Chemistry. He wrote to consult friends 

 at home, saying to his mother " I will not make a vain 

 parade of the grief my non-return will give me. A thousand 

 links of the dearest kind which nothing here can make up 

 for, draw me to Scotland or Edinburgh; but you, I am 

 sure, would be the first to say ' go.' " 



The week of suspense caused by the tardy postage of 

 those days was happily ended by the receipt of the desired 

 permission to remain. He accordingly had to make ar- 

 rangements for a lengthened, but not unwelcome, stay in 

 London. His residence there extended over five busy 

 months. The advantages of his position were by no means 

 so great as he had anticipated, and on the whole, his sojourn 

 in the great city was in many ways unsatisfactory to him. 

 But with his eager temperament, his wide sympathies, and 

 his openness to influences of all kinds, we cannot doubt 

 that he was in many ways benefited by the experiences 



