Life of Count Rumford. 573 



other sources have been introduced, for the purpose 

 of presenting a more complete narrative of the circum- 

 stances perhaps all too minutely reported in them. To 

 whatever degree the reader of the above letters and 

 extracts may have given his sympathy and commisera- 

 tion to the Count, it is impossible to suppress the con- 

 fession that these relations sadly detract from the dig- 

 nity with which we should always be glad to invest the 

 life of a philosopher and a philanthropist. The narra- 

 tive, painful and humiliating as it is in some of its 

 details, is not, however, without precedents in the experi- 

 ence alike of sages and of saints. It would be hardly 

 worth the while for us to make these painful incidents 

 in the life of Count Rumford the subject of any critical 

 or judicial examination. The narrative is in the main 

 self-explanatory. He evidently was not in a healthful 

 state of mind or of body when he formed the intimate 

 acquaintance of Madame Lavoisier, and then committed 

 himself and all his peculiar views and ways of life to 

 the risks of a matrimonial connection with her. Allow- 

 ing all that is said in praise of Madame Lavoisier, 

 and I have yet more fully to repeat the lofty and hearty 

 commendations of two of her most near friends, them- 

 selves highly distinguished and esteemed, we may find 

 a hint not without significance for us in the epithet which" 

 Sir Charles Blagden used, instead of a name, in his let- 

 ters to the Countess. It was a " French lady" to whom 

 this practical and not at all enthusiastic or sentimental 

 English philosopher " sacrificed his former indepen- 

 dence." She was a lady of the salon ^ the brilliant 

 centre, admiration, and idol of a large circle of savans 

 and men of wit, and as such she ha*s found a competent 

 biographer. 



