416 FKAGMENTS OF SCIENCE. 



be impossible to give even the slenderest summary of 

 Faraday's correspondence, or to carve from it more 

 than the merest fragments of his character. His let- 

 ters, written to Lord Melbourne and others in 1836, re- 

 garding his pension, illustrate his uncompromising in- 

 dependence. The Prime Minister had offended him, 

 but assuredly the apology demanded and given was 

 complete. I think it certain that, notwithstanding the 

 very full account of this transaction given by Dr. Bence 

 Jones, motives and influences were at work which even 

 now are not entirely revealed. The minister was bit- 

 terly attacked, but he bore the censure of the press 

 with great dignity. Faraday, while he disavowed hav- 

 ing either directly or indirectly furnished the matter 

 of those attacks, did not publicly exonerate the Pre- 

 mier. The Hon. Caroline Fox had proved herself 

 Faraday's ardent friend, and it was she who had healed 

 the breach between the philosopher and the minister. 

 She manifestly thought that Faraday ought to have 

 come forward in Lord Melbourne's defence, and there 

 is a flavour of resentment in one of her letters to him 

 on the subject. No doubt Faraday had good grounds 

 for his reticence, but they are to me unknown. 



In 1841 his health broke down utterly, and he went 

 to Switzerland with his wife and brother-in-law. His 

 bodily vigour soon revived, and he accomplished feats 

 of walking respectable even for a trained mountaineer. 

 The published extracts from his Swiss journal contain 

 many beautiful and touching allusions. Amid refer- 

 ences to the tints of the Jungfrau, the blue rifts of the 

 glaciers, and the noble Niesen towering over the Lake 

 of Thun, we come upon the charming little scrap 

 which I have elsewhere quoted: ' Clout-nail making 

 goes on here rather considerably, and is a very neat and 

 pretty operation to observe. I love a smith's shop and 



