88 THE KOYAL INSTITUTION. [CHAP. II. 



the word) ; in short, she is another Lady Palmerston. She 

 has been very handsome in her day, and even now, at forty- 

 six or forty-eight, is not bad-looking ; of a middling size, 

 but rather en Ion point than thin. She has a great deal of 

 vivacity and writes incomparably well. 



He soon after writes again of the lady : ' She is 

 fond of travelling, and wishes to make the tour of 

 Italy with me. She appears to be most sincerely at- 

 tached to me, and I esteem and love her very much.' 



On February 7, 1804, the Count writes again from 

 Paris. He and Madame Lavoisier were then making 

 preparations for their marriage. She deposited in his 

 name one hundred and twenty thousand livres in the 

 five per cent. French funds, which was to go to the sur- 

 vivor of the three herself, himself, or his daughter. 

 An income of six thousand a year out of her own pro- 

 perty was secured to Madame Lavoisier. Her house 

 in Paris, as well as the Count's at Brompton, was to re- 

 vert to the survivor of the two. 



On July 2 he said : 



MY DEAE SALLY, This letter, which will be entirely 

 devoted to very serious and important business, will, no 

 doubt, obtain your serious attention. 



In order to be able to complete in a legal manner some 

 domestic arrangements of great importance to me and to 

 you, I have lately found, to my no small surprise, that cer- 

 tificates of my birth and of the death of my former wife are 

 indispensably necessary. You can, no doubt, very easily 

 procure them the one from the town clerk of Woburn, 

 the other from the town clerk of Concord. And I request 

 that you would do it without loss of time, and send them 

 to me under cover, or rather in a letter addressed to me 

 and sent to the care of my bankers in London. As an 



