Life of Count Rumford. 419 



Institution till he had himself had trial of him in the 

 smaller room. His first lecture, however, removed the 

 misgiving, 'and Rumford heartily said, " Let him com- 

 mand any arrangements which the Institution can af- 

 ford." Davy was uncouth in appearance and address, 

 and he had to bear many mortifications in his first 

 mingling with society in London. Rumford was at 

 one of Davy's lectures as late as May 25, 1802, hav- 

 ing in the autumn of the previous year been absent in 

 Paris. Perhaps it was wellthat these two eminent men 

 of science, with their marked peculiarities of character 

 and temper, were not long kept in intimate intercourse. 

 They would hardly have been personal friends, as they 

 shared some of the same weaknesses of sensitiveness and 

 irritability. 



I am indebted to Dr. H. Bence Jones, the Secretary 

 of the Royal Institution, and the author of the admira- 

 ble memoir of Faraday, for his kindness in copying and 

 transmitting to me the following letter of Count Rum- 

 ford to Davy : 



" ROYAL INSTITUTION, '16^ Feb. 1801. 



"DEAR SIR, In consequence of the conversations' I have 

 had with you respecting- your engaging in the service of the 

 Royal Institution of Great Britain, -I this day laid the matter 

 before the Managers of the Institution, at their Meeting : 

 (Present, Sir Joseph Banks, Earl of Morton, Count Rum- 

 ford, and Richard Clark, Esq.,) and I have the pleasure to 

 acquaint you that th-e Proposal I made to them was approved, and 

 the following Resolution unanimously taken by them : ' Re- 

 solved, That Mr. Humphry Davy be engaged in the service of 

 the Royal Institution in the capacity of Assistant Lecturer in 

 Chemistry, Director of the Chemical Laboratory, and assistant 

 Editor of the Journals of the Institution ; and that he be al- 

 lowed to occupy a room in the house, and be furnished with 



