CHAELES BABBAGE. 177 



that we could ever be aware of the fact. Yet those animals, having 

 other sources of information and of pleasure, might, though despised 

 by us, yet enjoy a corporeal as well as intellectual existence far higher 

 than our own." 



Mr. Babbage's autobiography, relating isolated facts, which, with a 

 sort of indifference to the estimate history might put upon his char- 

 acter — strongly in contrast with even the best class of journals and 

 diaries, say. Sir Walter Scott's, or Dr. Chalmer's, or Edward Payson's, 

 or Missionary Judsou's, as if while it was necessary that they should 

 take care of th&iv jpost-mortem fame Ms possessed the vitality to care for 

 itself — are arranged without order of time or similarity of subject, after 

 all divides itself very naturally into the two branches of personal recol- 

 lections and personal experiences. He remembers Wollaston, Sogers, 

 and Sir Humphrey Davy, and gives pen-outlines of their* characters as 

 vivid and living as the portraits of Duow. He has discussed mathe- 

 matics with Laplace, compared analysis with Fourier, exhibited and ex- 

 plained his inventions to Biot, and lived on terms of intimacy with Hum- 

 boldt. He was the frequent companion of the Duke of Wellington; was 

 the associate of various branches of the Bonaparte family ; was the friend 

 of Mosotti, Menabria, and Prince Albert, and throughout life, from col- 

 legiate competitions to the mutual respect of mature years, held firmly 

 as his friend the younger Herschel. Of all these his notes are pictures, 

 unequalled even by the descriptions which Boswell gives of the asso- 

 ciates of the great lexicographer. 



It is the same with his experiences. He risks drowning by water and 

 baking by fire, loss of life by railway speed and loss of reputation by 

 picking locks, character in exploring the secrets of theatrical displays, 

 and purse in traversing the haunts of St. Giles. His thirst for knowl- 

 edge knew no bounds. Into an electioneering contest he entered with 

 the same indomitable energy that he pursued a mathematical calculus. 

 The same keen avidity that detected a logarithmic error was applied to 

 suppressing a street nuisance. He vitalized whatever he touched. If 

 life gives beauty it might be more truly said of Charles Babbage than 

 of most men of mark. Nihil tetigit quod non ornavit. In fact thei-e was 

 no secret of nature he hesitated to explore, no enigma of the sphynx 

 which he was afraid to question. Impulsiveness, want of patience, and 

 hatred of shams have indeed left many of his investigations partial and 

 fragmentary^, but about every one of them there is rich compensation in 

 striking aphorisms, profound observations, wisdom applicable to human 

 need, and wit available for its enjoyment. He says of himself: 



"I have always carefully watched the exercise of my own faculties, 

 and I have always endeavored to collect from the light reflected by 

 other minds some explanation of the question. 



"I think one of my most important guiding principles has been this: 

 That every moment of my waking hours has alwavs been occupied by 

 12 s 



