132 COUNT RUMFORD. 



noisy life which she was forced to lead in Munich and 

 London. Be this as it may, she returned to America, 

 reaching the port of Boston on October 10, 1799, " being 

 then just twenty-five years of age." Eumford himself 

 remained in England with the view of realising what 

 I have called the greatest project of his life the found- 

 ing of the Eoyal Institution. 



His ideas on this subject took definite shape in 1799. 

 They were set forth in a pamphlet of fifty pages, bear- 

 ing the following lengthy title : " Proposals for forming, 

 by subscription, in the Metropolis of the British Empire, 

 a Public Institution for diffusing the Knowledge and 

 facilitating the general Introduction of Useful Mechani- 

 cal Inventions and Improvements, and for teaching, by 

 courses of Philosophical Lectures and Experiments, the 

 Application of Science to the Common Purposes of 

 Life." The introduction to this pamphlet is dated from 

 Eumford's residence in Brompton Eow, March 4, 1799. 

 His aim, he alleges, is to cause science and art to work 

 together; to establish relations between philosophers 

 and workmen; to bring their united efforts to bear in 

 the improvement of agriculture, manufactures, com- 

 merce, and the augmentation of domestic comforts. 

 He specially dwells on the management of fire, it being, 

 as he thinks, a subject of peculiar interest to man- 

 kind. Fuel, he asserted, costs the kingdom more than 

 ten millions sterling annually, which was much more 

 than twice what it ought to cost. Eumford knew human 

 nature well, and for the greater portion of his life knew 

 how to appeal to it with effect. In fact, the knowledge 

 never failed him, though towards the end irritability, 

 due to ill-health and crosses of various kinds, rendered 

 him less able to apply the knowledge than when he 

 was in the blossom of his prime. As regards the sue- 



