148 COUNT RUMFORD. 



without children, never having had any; is about my 

 own age [she was four years younger than Eumford], 

 enjoys good health, is very pleasant in society, has a 

 handsome fortune at her own disposal, enjoys a most 

 respectable reputation, keeps a good house, which is 

 frequented by all the first philosophers and men of 

 eminence in the science and literature of the age, or 

 rather of Paris; and, what is more than all the rest, 

 is goodness itself." He goes on to describe her as hav- 

 ing been very handsome in her day, " and even now at 

 forty-six or forty-eight is not bad-looking." He de- 

 scribes her as rather embonpoint, with a great deal of 

 vivacity, and as writing incomparably well. 



Before the marriage could take place be was 

 obliged to obtain from America certificates of his birth, 

 and of the death of his former wife. All preliminaries 

 having been arranged, Count Eumford and Madame 

 Lavoisier were married in Paris, on October 24, 1805. 

 He describes the house in which they lived, Eue 

 d'Anjou, No. 39, as a paradise. " Eemoved from the 

 noise and bustle of the street, facing full to the south, 

 in the midst of a beautiful garden of more than two 

 acres, well planted with trees and shrubbery. The 

 entrance from the street is through an iron gate by a 

 beautiful winding avenue well planted, and the porter's 

 lodge is by the side of this gate; a great bell to be 

 rung in case of ceremonious visits." Long after this 

 event Eumford's daughter commented on it thus: 

 " It seems there had been an acquaintance between 

 these parties of four years before the marriage. It 

 might be thought a long space of time for perfect ac- 

 quaintance. But, ' ah Providence ! thy ways are past 

 finding out.' ' ; 



In a letter written to his daughter two months after 

 his marriage, he describes their style of living as really 



