118 COUNT BUMFORD. 



and ruined during the siege of the city by Austrian 

 troops. 



Thompson had the art of making himself loved and 

 honoured by the people whom he ruled in this arbitrary 

 way. Some very striking illustrations of this are given 

 in the ' Life and Essays.' He once, for example, broke 

 down at Munich under his self-imposed labours. It 

 was thought that he was dying, and one day while in 

 this condition, his attention was attracted by the con- 

 fused noise of a passing multitude in the street. It 

 was the poor of Munich who were going in procession to 

 the church to offer public prayers for him. * Public 

 prayers I ' he exclaims, ' for me, a private person, a 

 stranger, a Protestant ! ' Four years afterwards, when 

 he was dangerously ill at Naples, the people of their 

 own accord set apart an hour each evening, after they 

 had finished their labours in the military workhouse, to 

 pray for his recovery. 



Men find pleasure in exercising the powers they 

 possess, and Rumford possessed, in its highest and 

 strongest form, the power of organisation. The relief 

 of the poor, which occupied his attention for years, was 

 pursued by him as a scientific inquiry. He differen- 

 tiated the people who had fair claims upon the State 

 from those whose infirmity and incapacity rendered con- 

 tinuous assistance necessary, but \vho could not be aided 

 by compulsory taxation. In this case the promptings 

 of humanity must be invoked. Persons of high rank 

 ought here to take the lead, combining with those im- 

 mediately below them to secure efficient supervision 

 and relief. The expense thus incurred is small compared 

 with that incidental to beggary and its concomitant 

 thieving. Thompson's hope and confidence never for- 

 sook him. He faced, uuquailing, problems from which 

 less daring spirits would have recoiled. He held, un- 



