446 CAVENDISH. 



preferred marrying 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 Burling- 



O O 



ton 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 expres- 

 sion could hardly be called calm. It is not likely that 

 he ever should have been induced to sit for his picture ; 

 the result therefore of any such experiment is want- 

 ing. His dress was of the oldest fashion, a greyish 

 green coat and waistcoat, with flaps, a small cocked 

 hat, and his hair dressed like a wig (which possibly it 

 was) with a thick clubbed tail. His walk was quick 

 and uneasy ; of course he never appeared in London 

 unless lying back in the corner of his carriage. He 

 probably uttered fewer words in the course of his life 

 than any man who ever lived to fourscore years, not 

 at all excepting the monks of La Trappe. 



* He left Sir Charles a legacy of 15,000/. ; which was generally 

 understood fo have fallen much short of his ample expectations. 



