Lifi of Count Rumford. 239 



she being stiff and precise in formality and brocade. 

 The water through the aqueduct from Jamaica Plain, 

 another improvement, had also been recently introduced 

 into the Chief-Justice's house, and on the day of the 

 dinner-party, owing to some derangement, had required 

 his attention. He had come from court with his mind 

 engaged by an interesting insurance case, which he had 

 been trying, about a schooner. The Chief-Justice had 

 a marked peculiarity of memory. His hold on mere 

 names seemed to be as weak as his grasp of everything 

 else was strong, and sometimes, in moments of abstrac- 

 tion, he would make strange mistakes. On this oc- 

 casion, the company being seated, after grace was said, 

 as he took the carving-knife in hand, he addressed the 

 stately Mrs. Sever across the length of the table, with 

 this remarkable announcement, " Mrs. Schooner, all 

 the food on this table was cooked in the aqueduct." 

 His wife, dropping from her hand the fish-knife, cried 

 out in consternation, " Lord's sake, Mr. Parsons, what 

 do you mean ? " * 



In casting my eyes over the last importation of a 

 batch of books from London, for one of our public 

 libraries, after writing the preceding pages, I was struck 

 with an inscription on the cover of one of them as 

 follows : " Fuel in Cooking." On opening to the 

 title-page, I read, " On the Extravagant Use of Fuel 

 in Cooking Operations, together with a short account 

 of Benjamin, Count of Rumford, and his economical 

 systems, and numerous practical suggestions adapted 

 for domestic use. By Frederick Edwards, Jr. Lon- 

 don : Longman, Green, & Co., 1869." It is the third 



* Memoirs of Theophilus Parsons, Chief-Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court of 

 Massachusetts, &c., pp. 261, 262. 



