COUNT RUMFORD. 97 



being heard, he solaced his leisure with performances 

 on the violin. 



By the Eev. Thomas Barnard, minister of Salem, 

 and his son, young Thompson was taught algebra, 

 geometry, and astrononry. By self-practice he became 

 an able and accurate draughtsman. He did not escape 

 that last infirmity of ingenious minds the desire to 

 construct a perpetual motion. He experimented with 

 fireworks, and was once seriously burnt by the unexpected 

 ignition of his materials. His inquisitiveness is illus- 

 trated by the questions put to his friend Mr. Baldwin 

 in 1769. He wishes to be told the direction pursued 

 by the rays of light under certain conditions ; he desires 

 to know the cause of the change of colour which fire 

 produces in clay. " Please," he adds, " to give the na- 

 ture, essence, beginning of existence, and rise of the wind 

 in general, with the whole theory thereof, so as to be able 

 to answer all questions relative thereto." One might 

 suppose him to be preparing for a competitive examina- 

 tion. He grew expert in drawing caricatures, a spirited 

 group of which has been reproduced by Dr. Ellis. It 

 is called a Council of State, and embraces a jackass with 

 twelve human heads. These sketches were found in a 

 mutilated scrap-book, which also contained a kind of 

 journal of his proceedings in 1769. He mentions a 

 French class which he attended in the evenings, records 

 the purchase of a certain measure of black cloth, states 

 his debt to his uncle, Hiram Thompson, for part of the 

 rent of a pew. The liabilities thus incurred he met by 

 cutting and carting firewood. Mixed with entries such 

 as these are " directions for the backsword," in which the 

 postures of the combatants are defined and illustrated 

 by sketches. The scrap-book also contained an account 

 of the expense " towards getting an electrical machine." 



