BENJAMIN THOMPSON, COUNT RUMFORD 4! 



and remarkable memory, any misstatements of detail made by a 

 member of the company. He spoke English, French, German, 

 Spanish and Italian fluently, and published scientific papers in 

 the three first-named languages. He was punctilious in etiquette, 

 nice in dress and fond of titles and decorations. Throughout his 

 life he was unduly popular with the ladies. 



In early life he practiced music and he sketched his own inven- 

 tions, but had no taste for painting, sculpture or poetry. He took 

 pleasure in landscape gardening, but knew nothing of botany. 

 His favorite games were billiards and chess, but he rarely played 

 the latter because his feet became like ice. He was very abste- 

 mious in eating, partly from theory, partly on account of his poor 

 health. He never drank anything but water. 



In spite of a tendency toward display and a liking for elegance 

 in housing and habit, he was very careful in his expenditures and 

 strict in his accounts. He allowed no object to remain out of place 

 after he had used it, and he was never late to an appointment. 

 Cuvier in his eulogy says he worshiped "order as a sort of subor- 

 dinate deity, regulator of this lower world." "He permitted him- 

 self nothing superfluous, not a step, not a word; and he intrepreted 

 the word 'superfluous' in its strictest sense." 



Count Rumford on his return to Munich with his daughter 

 after a year in England found himself placed in a position of great 

 responsibility and difficulty. By the defection of Prussia the 

 burden of resistance to the victorious armies of the French repub- 

 lic had been thrown upon the Austrians who were unable to 

 make a stand against the advance of Moreau. A week after his 

 arrival the Elector fled from Munich and took refuge in Saxony, 

 leaving Count Rumford at the head of the Council of Regency. 

 After their defeat at Friedberg, the Austrians under Latour 

 retreated to Munich, closely followed by the French, and de- 

 manded admittance to the city. This Rumford refused to grant, 

 and when General Moreau arrived with the French army, he also 

 kept them out of the city by the promise of supplies and the 

 withdrawal of the Bavarian contingent. Since Count Rumford 

 was now in command of the Bavarian troops crowded into the 



