iv 



and cannot take it up for want of ability. Had I perhaps known as much 

 of mechanics, mathematics, mensuration, and drawing as I do perhaps of 

 some other sciences, that is to say, had I happened to employ my mind 

 with these instead of other sciences, I could have obtained a place, an easy 

 place, too, and that in London, at 5', 6', 7\ £800 per annum. Alas ! alas ! 

 Inability. I must ask your advice on the subject, and intend, if I can, to 

 see you next Sunday ; one necessary branch of knowledge would be that of 

 the steam-engine, and, indeed, anything where iron is concerned." 



In his next letter he says, speaking of fresh experiments with his battery, 

 " I must trust to your experiments more than my own ; I have no time, and 

 the subject requires several;" and in a letter written August 11, "Pyro- 

 techny is a beautiful art, but I never made any practical progress in it, 

 except in the forming a few bad squibs ; so that you will gain little from 

 me on that point." 



In his next letter (August 19) he says, " I cannot see any subject except 

 chlorine to write on. Be not surprised, my dear A., at the ardour with which 

 I have embraced this new theory. I have seen Davy himself support it. 

 I have seen him exhibit experiments (conclusive experiments) explanatory 

 of it ; and I have heard him apply these experiments to the theory, and 

 explain and enforce them in (to me) an irresistible manner. Conviction, 

 sir, struck me, and I was forced to believe him, and with that belief came 

 admiration." 



In a letter dated about a fortnight before his apprenticeship was out 

 he writes, " Your commendations of the MS. lectures [of Davy] compel me 

 to apologize most humbly for the numerous (very, yery numerous) errors 

 they contain. If I take you right, the negative words c no flattery' may 

 be substituted by the affirmative ' irony ;' be it so, I bow to the superior 

 scholastic erudition of Sir Ben. There are in them errors that will not bear 

 to be jested with, since they concern not my own performance so much as 

 the performance of Sir H., and those are errors in theory ; there are, I 

 am conscious, errors in theory, and those errors I would wish you to point 

 out to me before you attribute them to Davy." 



In the last letter before the great change came (October 1, 1812), he says, 

 " I rejoice in your determination to pursue the subject of electricity, and have 

 no doubt that I shall have some very interesting letters on the subject. I 

 shall certainly wish to (and will if possible) be present at the performance 

 of the experiments ; but you know I shall shortly enter on the life of a jour- 

 neyman, and then I suppose time will be more scarce than it is even now." 



On the 8th of October he went as journeyman bookbinder to a Mr. Dela 

 Roche, then a French emigrant in London. His master was a very pas- 

 sionate man, and troubled his assistant much ; so much, that he felt he 

 could not remain in that place, though every inducement was held out to 

 him. His master liked him ; and, to tempt him to stay, said " I have no child, 

 and if you will stay with me you shall have all I have when I am gone." 



In his first letter to his friend Abbott, after his apprenticeship was ended, 



