Life of Count Rumford. 627 



for poetry. He had, however, great taste for landscape-garden- 

 ing- 



" His hab : ts of life were latterly most abstemious, so much 

 so that he had not sufficient vital strength to resist a nervous 

 fever, which carried him off on the 2ist of August, when he 

 was on the eve of returning to England, to which, as long as he 

 lived, he retained the most devoted attachment." 



The French savans, with the brilliant exception of 

 Cuvier, have not been lavish in their encomiums on 

 Count Rumford. Those of his associates in the Insti- 

 tute who had read the severe reflections cast upon them 

 in some of the sentences of the above memoir might 

 be released from any obligation to swell his praise, 

 especially if, as there is reason to believe, Count Rum- 

 ford had treated them in a manner conformed to his 

 opinion of them. I do not know who was the writer 

 of the following complimentary tribute to Rumford, 

 which appeared in a periodical in Paris, just before his 

 death : "'His conversation is animated, interesting, and 

 solid : it is that of a man who has seen very much, 

 and who has cast an observing eye upon everything. 

 He devotes himself to doing good to his fellow-men, 

 and cares but little for their gratitude. He gratifies his 

 own fancies, and is not indifferent to fame." 



Dr. Thomas Young, already mentioned in another 

 connection with Count Rumford, was among those who 

 paid to him a qualified tribute after his death. In his 

 Miscellaneous Works, edited by Dr. Peacock, we find 

 from his pen a series of " Biographies of Men of Sci- 

 ence," Rumford being included among them.f The 



* " Sa conversation est animee, interessante, substantielle : c'est elle d'un homme 

 qui a beaucoup vu et qui i port sur chaque chose un ceil d'observateur. II s'occupe 

 du bien des hommes et compte peu sur leur reconnaissance. II suit son gout et n'est 

 pas indifferent 4 la gloire." La Decade Philosophique, Littdraire, et Politique, No. XX. 



f Vol. II. pp. 474-484. London, 1855. 



