452 DAVY. 



fame which he thus acquired would have been of 

 limited extent and of short duration, had his reliance 

 only been upon the fickle multitude whom such quali- 

 ties can please. The first consequences of his success 

 in the line of mere exhibition were unfavourable, and 

 threatened to be fatal ; for he was led away by the 

 plaudits of fashion, and must needs join in its frothy, 

 feeble current. For a while he is remarked to have 

 shown the incongruous combination of science and 

 fashion, which form a most imperfect union, and pro- 

 duce a compound of no valuable qualities, somewhat 

 resembling the nitrous gas on which he experimented 

 earlier in life, having an intoxicating effect on the 

 party tasting it, and a ludicrous one on all beholders. 

 They who have recorded this transformation, while 

 they lament the substitution of anything for " the 

 natural candour and warmth of feeling which had 

 singularly won upon the acquaintance of his early life," 

 add most justly that the weakness which they describe 

 never " cooled his regard for his family and former 

 friends." I can vouch for the change, which was 

 merely superficial, being of very short duration ; and 

 it is pleasing to add that, even while it lasted, there 

 was none of that most offensive of all the effects pro- 

 duced by such a transition state to be found in his con- 

 versation ; he never for a moment appeared to be 

 ashamed of his great vocation, nor to shun the fullest 

 discussion of the subject on which he was at home, 

 in order to deal with topics to which he was of neces- 

 sity a stranger. I am speaking, too, of his habits long 

 before his great discoveries ; there would have been 

 little ground for praise, any more than for wonder, 



