304 FRAGMENTS OF SCIENCE. 



ory reveals itself in his first letter to Abbot. To a proposi- 

 tion that no new inquiry should be started between them 

 before the old one had been exhaustively discussed, Faraday 

 objects. " Your notion,*' he says, "1 can hardly allow, for 

 the following reason: ideas and thoughts spring up in my 

 mind which are irrevocably lost for want of noting at the 

 time." Gentle as he seemed, lie wished to have his own 

 way, and he had it throughout his life. Differences of 

 opinion sometimes arose between the two friends, and then 

 they resolutely faced each other. "I accept your offer to 

 fight it out with joy, and shall in the battle of experience 

 cause not pain, but, I hope, pleasure." Faraday notes his 

 own impetuosity, and incessantly checks it. There is at 

 times something almost mechanical in his self-restraint. 

 In another nature it would have hardened into mere 

 "correctness" of conduct; but his overflowing affections 

 prevented this in his case. The habit of self-control 

 became a second nature to him at last, and lent serenity to 

 his later years. 



In October, 1812, he was engaged by a Mr. De la Roche 

 as a journeyman bookbinder; but the situation did not suit 

 him. His master appears to have been an austere and 

 passionate man, and Faraday was to the last degree sensi- 

 tive. All his life he continued so. He suffered at times 

 from dejection; and a certain grimness, too, pervaded his 

 moods. " At present," he writes to Abbott, " I am as seri- 

 ous as you can be, and would not scruple to speak a truth 

 to any human being, whatever repugnance it might give 

 rise to. Being in this state of mind, I should have re- 

 frained from writing to you, did I not conceive from the 

 general tenor of your letters that your mind is, at proper 

 times, occupied upon serious subjects to the exclusion of 

 those that are frivolous." Plainly he had fallen into that 

 stern Puritan mood, which not only crucifies the affections 

 and lusts of him who harbors it, but is often a cause of 

 disturbed digestion to his friends. 



About three months after his engagement with De la 

 Roche, Faraday quitted him and bookbinding together. 

 He had heard Davy, copied his lectures, and written to 

 him, entreating to be released from Trade, which he hated, 

 and enabled to pursue Science. Davy recognized the 

 morit of his correspondent, kept his eye upon him, and, 

 when occasion offered, drove to his door and sent in a letter, 



