CAVENDISH. 105 



some profit, he answered with much simplicity, that if 

 the balance was an inconvenience to them he could go 

 to another banker. Himself a man of no expense, his 

 habits never varied, nor did his style of living at all 

 suffer a change on succeeding to his uncle's large 

 fortune. His purse was ever accessible to the claims 

 of charity, as well as to proposals for the promotion of 

 scientific pursuits. Having formed a high opinion of 

 Dr. (afterwards Sir Charles) Blagden's capacity for 

 science, he settled a considerable annuity on him, upon 

 condition that he should give up his profession and 

 devote himself to philosophy; with the former portion 

 of which condition the Doctor complied, devoting 

 himself to the hopeless pursuit of a larger income in 

 the person of Lavoisier's widow, who preferred mar- 

 rying Count Rumford.* Mr. Cavendish received no 

 one at his residence ; he ordered his dinner daily by a 

 note which he left at a certain hour on the hall table, 

 where the housekeeper was to take it, for he held no 

 communication with his female domestics, from his 

 morbid shyness. It followed, as a matter of course, 

 that his servants thought him strange, and his neigh- 

 bours deemed him out of his mind. He hardly ever 

 went into society. The only exceptions I am aware 

 of are an occasional christening at Devonshire or Bur- 

 lington House, the meetings of the Royal Society, and 

 Sir Joseph Banks' weekly conversaziones. At both 

 the latter places I have met him, and recollect the 

 shrill cry he uttered as he shuffled quickly from room 

 to room, seeming to be annoyed if looked at, but 

 sometimes approaching to hear what was passing 

 among others. His face was intelligent and mild, 

 though, from the nervous irritation which he seemed 

 to feel, the expression could hardly be called calm. 

 It is not likely that he ever should have been in- 

 duced to sit for his picture; the result, therefore, of 



* He left Sir Charles a legacy of 15,000 ; which was generally under- 

 stood to have fallen much short of his ample expectations. 



