COUNT KUMFORD. 153 



and her house is certainly calculated to modify the ac- 

 count of both given by her husband. Kumford became 

 her guest at a time when he enjoyed in public " a splen- 

 did scientific popularity. His spirit was lofty, his con- 

 versation was full of interest, and his manners were 

 marked by gentle kindness. He made himself agreeable 

 to Madame Lavoisier. H? accorded with her habits, her 

 tastes, one might almost say with her reminiscences. 

 . . . She married him, happy to offer to a dis- 

 tinguished man a great fortune 'and a most agreeable 

 existence." Guizot, who writes thus, goes on to state 

 that their characters and temperaments were incom- 

 patible. They had both grown to maturity accustomed 

 to independence, which it is not always easy even for 

 tender affection to stifle. The lady had stipulated, on 

 her second marriage, that she should be permitted to 

 retain the name of Lavoisier, calling herself Madame 

 Lavoisier de Kumford. This proved disagreeable to 

 the Count, but she was not to be moved from her de- 

 termination to retain the name. " I have," she says, 

 " at the bottom of my heart a profound conviction that 

 M. de Kumford will not disapprove of me for it, and 

 that on taking time for reflection, he will permit me 

 to continue to fulfil a duty which I regard as sacred." 

 Guizot adds that the hope proved deceptive, and that 

 " after some domestic agitations, which M. de Rumford, 

 with more of tact, might have kept from becoming 

 so notorious, a separation became necessary." Guizot 

 describes her dinners and receptions during the re- 

 maining twenty-seven years of her life as delightful. 

 Cultivated intellects, piquant and serious conversation, 

 excellent music, freedom of mind and tongue, without 

 personal antagonism or political bias, " license of 

 thought and speech without any distrust or disquiet as 

 to what Authority might judge or say a privilege then 



