442 FRAGMENTS OF SCIENCE 



serve that we have no right to judge religious opinions; 

 but the human nature of this evening is that part of man 

 which we have a right to judge. And I think it will be 

 found on examination, that this humanity as it may per- 

 haps be called will accord with what I have before de- 

 scribed as being in our own hands so improvable and 

 perfectible. ' ' 



In an old journal I find the following remarks on one 

 of my earliest dinners with Faraday: "At two o'clock he 

 came down for me. He, his niece, and myself, formed 

 the party. 'I never give dinners,' he said. 'I don't know 

 how to give dinners, and I never dine out. But I should 

 not like my friends to attribute this to a wrong cause. 

 I act thus for the sake of securing time for work, and not 

 through religious motives, as some imagine.' He said 

 grace. I am almost ashamed to call his prayer a 'saying 

 of grace.' In the language of Scripture, it might be de- 

 scribed as the petition of a son into whose heart God had 

 sent the Spirit of His Son, and who with absolute trust 

 asked a blessing from his father. We dined on roast beef, 

 Yorkshire pudding, and potatoes; drank sherry, talked 

 of research and its requirements, and of his habit of keep- 

 ing himself free from the distractions of society. He was 

 bright and joyful boylike, in fact, though he is now 

 sixty-two. His work excites admiration, but contact with 

 him warms and elevates the heart. Here, surely, is a 

 strong man. I love strength; but let me not forget the 

 example of its union with modesty, tenderness, and sweet- 

 ness, in the character of Faraday. ' ' 



Faraday's progress in discovery, and the salient points 

 of his character, are well brought out by the wise choice 

 of letters and extracts published in the volumes before us. 



