MEMOIR OF DANIEL THE A DWELL. 



o 



To Mrs. Trkadwell. 



LOVDO*, April 10, I .. 



. . . You perceive that I am yet in this every way wonderful city. I remember heretofore 

 having spoken slightingly of the practice of describing the country through which one pa.- 



on a journey, " of babbling of green fields," and therefore 1 shall not babble of smoky bona : 

 but I cannot forbear the remark, that after one has passed for miles and miles through the 

 streets of London, and seen ranges of buildings covered in many places (even some of t ho 

 most obscure) with elaborate ornaments of architecture, and marked the ships, the docks, 

 the bridges, and all the merchandise collected in warehouses or moving from place to place, 

 he cannot but wonder, when he considers how little a single man can produce, that men enough 



have ever existed to have produced so much. It maybe taken as a fair estimate, that to con- 

 struct the docks alone it required a labor equal at least to that of a thousand men \ tricing a 



hundred years. This includes the warehouses and buildings belonging to the dock companies. 

 I am constantly on the alert to see and hear all that may be found, and 1 receive man) facilities 

 from those to whom I have become known; amongst others, I cannot express too strongly mv 

 obligations to Mr. William Vaugban, an old gentleman of eighty, the brother of Mr. Vaughan of 

 Hallowell, and Mr. Petty Vaugban, his nephew, to whom 1 had a letter from J>r. Bigelow. Mi. 

 William Vaugban is constantly casting round to see what he can do for me, and being a member 

 of all the prominent societies, amongst others of the Royal Society, he is able to -how me a gr< at 

 many men and things. I have heard lectures at the Royal Institution from Dr. Richie, Mr. 

 Brando, and Dr. Lardner, all of which were excellent. Dr. Richie's was upon electricity. The 



experiments were not numerous, but all to the purpose, either as illustrating some theory <>r 



as displaying some fact which it was necessary to explain or connect with some theory. Mr. 

 Brande's was upon the laws of animal and vegetable chemistry, of which he gave a general, but 

 very clear and philosophical view. He is not popular, being considered past his time, and being 

 entirely outdone by Faraday, who is said to be the best lecturer in London. I spoke in my 

 letter to Dr. Ware of his manner and appearance. Since then I have met him again at the 

 Royal Institution, and was further confirmed in my high idea of his powers. He is quick in his 

 conceptions, and at the same time clear, deep, and accurate, and all his rapidity is calm and 

 without flutter. Dr. Lardner lectured on Halley's comet, the approach of which to the earth 

 is exciting considerable attention here. The philosophers are anxious to see the calculations 

 verified by it, and it is said the canaille are anxious, as they expect it will bring some tei ible 

 disease or calamity. Lardner's lecture was a perspicuous account of comets and their laws of 

 motion. It was learned, and at the same time simple, — ''deep, though clear." You see by 

 this I am capable of being excited to praise; indeed, these men come up to my notions of 

 what lecturing should be; but then they are the crack lecturers of all London. 



To Dr. John Ware. 



April 22, 1835. 



... In my last letter to you I promised to write particularly of Babbage's calculating 

 machine. I thought that, on seeing it again, I might undertake to give you an idea of it, but 

 I find that it would be impossible, as I have not seen it long enough to gain a thorough and 

 clear knowledge of it myself. It is thirteen years since Mr. Babhage commenced making the 

 drawings for it, and the calculating part of the machine now built does not extend to more 



