XXX11 



magnificent scenery ; and for myself I would rather not see it than see 

 it with an exhausted appetite. The weather has been most delightful, 

 and everything in our favour, so that the scenery has been in the most 

 beautiful condition. Mont Blanc, above all, is wonderful, and I could 

 not but feel, what I have often felt before, that painting is very far 

 beneath poetry in cases of high expression, of which this is one. No 

 artist should try to paint Mont Blanc, it is utterly out of his reach. He 

 cannot convey an idea of it, and a formal map, or a common-place model, con- 

 veys more intelligence, even with respect to the sublimity of the mountain, 

 than his highest efforts can do ; in fact he must be able to dip his brush 

 in light and darkness before he can paint Mont Blanc. Yet the moment 

 one sees it Lord Byron's expressions come to mind, and they seem to 

 apply. The poetry and the subject dignify each other." 



On the 20th of April Sir James South wrote to him to say that he would 

 have a letter from Sir Robert Peel acquainting him with the fact that, had 

 Sir R. Peel remained in office, a pension would have been given him. On 

 the 23rd he wrote a letter to Sir James South, which, however, his father-in- 

 law prevented him from sending. He said, " I hope you will not think that 

 I am unconscious of the good you meant me, or undervalue your great 

 exertions for me, when I say that I cannot accept a pension whilst I am 

 able to work for my living. Do not from this draw any sudden conclusion 

 that my opinions are such and such. I think that Government is right 

 in rewarding and sustaining science. I am willing to think, since such 

 approbation has been intended me, that my humble exertions have been 

 worthy, and I think that scientific men are not wrong in accepting the 

 pensions ; but still I may not take a pay which is not for services per- 

 formed whilst I am able to live by my labours." 



In the ' Times' of Saturday, 28th Oct. 1835, under the head of Tory 

 and Whig Patronage to Science and Literature, is the following conver- 

 sation, copied from Fraser's Magazine : — 



" Mr. F. I am here, my Lord, by your desire ; am I to understand that 

 it is on the business which I have partially discussed with Mr. Young? 

 (Lord M.'s Secretary.) Lord Melbourne. You mean the pension, don't 

 you? Mr. F. Yes, my Lord. Lord M. Yes, you mean the pension, and 

 I mean the pension too. I hate the name of the pension. I look upon 

 the whole system of giving pensions to literary and scientific persons as a 

 piece of gross humbug ; it was not done for any good purpose, and never 

 ought to have been done. It is a gross humbug from beginning to end. 

 Mr. F. (rising, and making a bow). After ail this, my Lord, I perceive 

 that my business with your Lordship is ended. I wish you a good 

 morning." Faraday said that the report of this conversation was full of 

 error ; however he wrote : — 



' * To the Right Hon. Lord Viscount Melbourne, First Lord of the Treasury. 



" October 26. 



" My Lord, — The conversation with which your Lordship honoured me 



