Life of Count Rumford. 519 



spot I had any opportunity of seeing on the west side of the 

 Atlantic." 



Then follow specific inquiries as to expenses, privi- 

 leges, neighbors, etc. 



" It will give me very great pleasure to see you again, either 

 here or in America. Do not depend upon the Count's going to 

 visit you there. It is indeed possible that the fancy may sud- 

 denly strike him, and then he will set off in an instant, almost 

 without giving notice. But his favorite child, the Institution, 

 cannot yet walk alone, and, if he quits it at the time he talks of, 

 will be a helpless cripple, even if it should continue to exist at 

 all. I still see, with regret, his time and powers wasted on an 

 object so inferior, in my opinion, to those which presented them- 

 selves to him in America. But he views the thing in a differ- 

 ent light, and I suspect will be led on to stay here one year after 

 another, till you are worn out with expecting him, and the oppor- 

 tunity of distinguishing himself in a rising country will be past." 



Sir Charles subscribes himself, " With true esteem 

 and affectionate regard, Dear Madam, your faithful 

 friend and servant." 



Under date of September 10, 1801, he responds to a 

 letter from the Countess of the ijth of July, and writes 

 that the Count had read to him " the very handsome 

 letter which he had received from General Knox," con- 

 cerning the agreeable arrangement she had made for 

 passing the summer at the General's residence in Thom- 

 aston, Maine, and he adds : 



" It is with great pleasure that I learn, both from the Count 

 and yourself, the great proficiency you make in drawing. He 

 says that you have naturally a talent for that art, and could with 

 pains arrive to great perfection in it ; that he had advised you 

 whilst you were in Europe to cultivate this talent, but that you 

 did not then take to it as kindly as he wished. I believe it 

 would sensibly add to his pleasure on seeing you again if he 



