418 FEAGMENTS OF SCIENCE. 



ters to his wife, published in the second volume. Here 

 surely the loving essence of the man appears more dis- 

 tinctly than anywhere else. From the house of Dr. 

 Percy, in Birmingham, he writes thus: 



* Here even here the moment I leave the table, 

 I wish I were with you IN QUIET. Oh, what happiness 

 is ours! My runs into the world in this way only serve 

 to make me esteem that happiness the more.' 

 And again: 



( We have been to a grand conversazione in the 

 town-hall, and I have now returned to my room to 

 talk with you, as the pleasantest and happiest thing 

 that I can do. Nothing rests me so much as com- 

 munion with you. I feel it even now as I write, and 

 catch myself saying the words aloud as I write them.' 

 Take this, moreover, as indicative of his love for Na- 

 ture: 



( After writing, I walk out in the evening hand in 

 hand with my dear wife to enjoy the sunset; for to 

 me who love scenery, of all that I have seen or can see, 

 there is none surpasses that of heaven. A glorious sun- 

 set brings with it a thousand thoughts that delight me.' 



Of the numberless lights thrown upon him by the 

 e Life and Letters,' some fall upon his religion. In a 

 letter to Lady Lovelace, he describes himself as belong- 

 ing to ' a very small and despised sect of Christians, 

 known, if known at all, as Sandemanians, and our 

 hope is founded on the faith that is in Christ.' He 

 adds: ' I do not think it at all necessary to tie the study 

 of the natural sciences and religion together, and in 

 my intercourse with my fellow-creatures, that which 

 is religious, and that which is philosophical, have ever 

 been two distinct things/ He saw clearly the danger 

 of quitting his moorings, and his science acted indi- 

 rectly as the safeguard of his faith. For his investiga- 



