1829. JET. 51.] SIR HUMPHRY DAVY. 403 



genius (Coleridge) say, " Had not Davy been the first 

 chemist, he probably would have been the first poet of 

 his age." 



' No man was less a sectarian, if I may use the 

 expression, in religion, in politics, or in science. He 

 regarded with benevolence the sincere convictions of 

 any class on the subject of religion, however they might 

 vary from his own. In politics he was the ardent 

 friend of rational liberty ; he gloried in the institutions 

 of his country and was anxious to see them maintained 

 in their purity by timely and temperate reform. Men 

 of science, wherever situated, he considered fellow- 

 subjects of one great republic spread over the world. 

 As to his amusements he would say, " It is not the sport 

 only, though there is a great pleasure in successful 

 dexterity, but it is the ardour of the pursuit, the pure 

 air, the contemplation of the fine country, the exercise, 

 all which invigorate the body and excite the mind to 

 its best efforts." 



' When he made his last visit to me in 1827, on his 

 arrival he said, " Here I am, the ruin of what I was." 

 But nevertheless the same activity and ardour of mind 

 continued, though directed to different objects. 



' He was not only one of the greatest but one of the 

 most benevolent and amiable of men.' 



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