420 FRAGMENTS OF SCIENCE. 



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 perhaps be called will accord 

 with what I have before described 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 re- 

 ligious 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 

 described as the petition of a son, into whose heart 

 Grod 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 keeping himself free from the dis- 

 tractions of society. He was bright and joyful boy- 

 like, 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 sweetness, 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. I will not call the labours of the 

 biographer final. So great a character will challenge 



