His  friendship  with  Scott. 
25 
strove  to  make  the  otlier  talk,  and  they  did  so  in  turn  more 
charmingly  than  1 have  ever  heard  either  on  any  other  occasion 
whatsoever.  Scott,  in  his  romantic  narratives,  touched  a 
deeper  chord  of  feeling  than  usual,  when  he  had  such  a listener 
as  Daw  ; and  Davy,  when  induced  to  open  his  views  upon 
any  (juestion  of  scientific  interest  in  Scott’s  presence,  did  so 
with  a degree  of  clear  energetic  elo(|uence,  and  with  a flow  of 
iniagerv  and  illu-stration,  of  which  neither  his  habitual  tone  of 
table  talk  (least  of  all  in  London),  nor  any  of  his  prose  writings 
(except,  indeed,  the  posthumous  Consolations  in  Travel),  could 
suggest  an  adecpiate  notion.  I say  his  ju’ose  writings — for  who 
that  has  read  his  sublime  quatrains  on  the  doctrine  of  S|)inoza 
can  doubt  that  he  might  have  united,  if  he  had  pleased,  in  some 
great  didactic  poem,  the  vigorous  ratiocination  of  Dryden,  and 
the  moral  majesty  of  Wordsworth  ? f remember  William 
Laidlaw  whispering  to  me  one  night,  when  their  ‘ rapt  talk  ’ 
had  kept  the  circle  round  the  fire  until  long  after  the  usual 
bed-time  of  Abbotsford — ‘ Gude  preserve  us  ! This  is  a very 
superior  occasion  ! Eh,  sirs  ! ’ he  added,  cocking  his  eye  like 
a bird,  ‘ 1 wonder  if  Shakespeare  and  Bacon  ever  met  to  screw 
ilk  other  up  ? ’ ” 
It  would  be  impossible  for  any  words  to  surpass  these,  as 
showing  the  remarkable  character  and  powers  of  Davy,  more 
especially  as  they  come  from  one  who  was  most  capable  of 
ex])ressing  an  opinion. 
It  will  ever  be  a source  of  pride  to  agriculturists  that  Davy 
turned  aside  for  a time  from  his  more  special  studies,  and 
gathered  the  results  of  his  own  researches  and  the  labours  of 
his  predecessors  into  a systematic  treatise,  thus  inaugurating 
a movement  which  has  increased  day  by  day  in  practical  value, 
and  caused  to  be  sown  seeds  which  have  grown  so  luxuriantly 
that  the  original  plant  has  been  obscured. 
Henry  B.  AV’heatley. 
2 Oppidans  Road,  N.W. 
