106 RUMFORD. 



mander-in-chief of the general staff, minister of war, and superin- 

 tendent of the police of the electorate, and was finally, in 1790, 

 raised to the dignity of Count of the Holy Roman Empire, by the 

 title of Count Rumford, in memory of the American village where 

 he had formerly officiated as schoolmaster. The scientific part of 

 the community also showed their esteem for him, by electing him a 

 member of the Academies of Munich and Manheim ; and in 1787, 

 when on a visit to Prussia, he was chosen a member of the Academy 

 of Sciences at Berlin. 



When the advance of the French army under Moreau compelled 

 the Elector to quit his capital, Count Rumford was for a short time 

 placed at the head of the Regency, and in this capacity succeeded 

 in the arduous task of freeing the Bavarian state from foreign in- 

 vasion. This important service increased Rumford's reputation 

 with the Elector and the people, and he was permitted to settle 

 one-half of the pension which he e,njoyed on his daughter, to be 

 paid during her lifetime. 



In the year 1798, the Elector appointed him his ambassador to 

 the court of Great Britain ; but on arriving in London, Rumford, 

 much to his mortification, found that, as a British subject he could 

 not hold that office. Shortly after this, in 1799, his friend and 

 patron the Elector Charles Theodore died. Deeply grieved by the 

 loss he had sustained, Rumford contemplated returning to his native 

 country, in compliance with a formal invitation which he had re- 

 ceived from the United States government. He was, however, led 

 to change this design, and remain for several years in London, 

 during which period he devoted the greatest portion of his time to 

 the interests of the Royal Institution, of which he may be considered 

 the founder. The objects of this institution, now one of the recog- 

 nised scientific establishments of the world, and which can boast of 

 having given employment to such men as Young, Davy, Brande, 

 and Faraday, were "to diffuse the knowledge and facilitate the 

 general introduction of useful mechanical inventions and improve- 

 ments, and to teach by courses of philosophical lectures and ex- 

 periments the application of science to the useful purposes of life." 

 Such an institution was precisely the one which Rumford was quali- 

 fied to superintend ; and in its early history, the influence of his 

 peculiar habits of thought is discernible, in the choice of subjects 

 for investigation by the members. Rumford's name will ever be 

 connected with the progress of science in England, from the estab- 

 lishment of this institution, and also from the foundation by him of 

 a perpetual medal and prize in the gift of the Royal Society, for the 

 reward of discoveries connected with light and heat. 



During the latter portion of his life, Count Rumford, retaining an 

 income of 12001. a year from the Bavarian court, resided chiefly at 

 Auteuil, a small villa near Paris. Here he was married again to 

 the widow of the eminent French chemist Lavoisier, his former wife 



