300 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 



Rumford, wished to paint his portrait to he engraved. M. Jay, 

 her relation and my friend, then director of the ' Decade Philoso- 

 phique,' wished to put it into his journal, and asked me for a notice 

 of M. Rumford to accompany it. Knowing little of his former life, 

 I asked M. Rumford himself for a few notes ; he promised them, and 

 appointed an interview at his house to give them to me. I went : 

 what was my astonishment when he presented an article entirely 

 complete and quite eulogistic. That was not all ; he required me 

 to copy it on the spot, not wishing to leave the manuscript in his 

 writing in my hands. I thought the proceeding rather indelicate, 

 and the distrust not very polite. I deferred however to the wishes 

 of a man for whom I had always had until then the highest respect ; 

 I obeyed : I transmitted to the ' Decade ' the written article, with 

 small additions, and I have never mentioned until after the death of 

 Rumford, not even until now, the secret of its origin, thinking that 

 this trait would not raise him in estimation. 



" M. Rumford settled in Paris, where he afterwards married 

 Madame Lavoisier, the widow of the celebrated chemist. I 

 saw something of both, and I never knew an odder union. M. 

 Rumford was cold, imperturbable, obstinate, egotistical, prodigiously 

 occupied with the material part of life, and in inventions in the 

 smallest matters. He was engrossed with chimneys, lamps, coffee- 

 pots, and windows made after a peculiar fashion ; and he contra- 

 dicted his wife twenty times a day about the management of her 

 housekeeping. Madame Lavoisier-Rumford . . . was a woman 

 of very decided character. A widow for twelve or fifteen years, 

 she had been in the habit of having her own way, and did not like 

 to be contradicted. Her mind was broad, her will strong, her char- 

 acter masculine. She was capable of lasting friendship, and I could 

 always congratulate myself on her kindness to me. Her second 

 marriage was soon disturbed by grotesque scenes. Separation was 

 better for both than union. He got a pension, which he needed, 

 but which death prevented his long enjoying. She obtained liberty 

 and the title of Countess : both were satisfied. He could now 

 arrange the house at Auteuil as he liked : she continued to receive 

 a select circle at hers." 



Of this racy and unflattering sketch we have only to re- 

 mark that, however it may have been as to the pension, Rum- 

 ford's pecuniary means, as shown by his endowments and 

 legacies in this country, were more considerable than De 

 Candolle supposed. 



