[7] In offering these observations, the reader may readily suppose it has not been without much pain that I have made this sacrifice of personal feeling to principle. I am, however, bound to observe, that Sir Humphry's sentiments towards France for the liberal indulgence granted to him were both grateful and kindly; and so strongly does Lady Davy participate in that feeling, that I perhaps owe it to her to state that neither her Ladyship's journals or information have been used upon this occasion.
It would be an act of literary dishonesty to assert that Sir H. Davy returned the kindness of the _savans_ of France, in a manner which the friends of Science could have expected and desired. There was a flippancy in his manner, a superciliousness and hauteur in his deportment, which surprised as much as they offended. Whatever opinions he might have formed as to the talents of the leading chemists, it was weakness to betray, and arrogance to avow them.
He had, by a single blow, fatally mutilated the system which was the pride and glory of their nation: it was ungenerous to remind them of his triumph. It required but little tact to have reconciled the French philosophers to the revolution he had effected; but, unfortunately, that cannot be said of Davy, which was so wittily observed of Voltaire,--that if he trod upon the toes of their prejudices, he touched his hat at the same time: even the affair of Iodine, had it been skilfully managed, would never have left an angry feeling. It was not his success, but the manner in which he spoke of it, that rendered it so offensive. He should have acted according to the judicious advice given to a member of the clerical profession, upon his consulting a friend as to the propriety of continuing his field-sports, should he become a dignitary of the Church--"You may hunt, but you must not holla."
It may be supposed that the unguarded conduct of Davy reached the ear of the Emperor; for in a conversation with one of the leading members of the Institute, Napoleon took occasion to observe, that he understood the young English chemist held them all in low estimation.
Having thus candidly avowed the errors of Davy, I may be justified in claiming from the reader his confidence in the sincerity with which I shall attempt to palliate them. From my personal knowledge of his character, I am inclined to refer much of that unfortunate manner, which has been considered as the expression of a haughty consciousness of superiority, to the desire of concealing a _mauvaise honte_ and _gaucherie_--an ungraceful timidity, which he could never conquer. The bashful man, if he possess strong passions, will frequently force himself into a state of effrontery, by a violence of effort which passes amongst ordinary observers for the sallies of pride, or the ebullitions of temper; whereas if, on the contrary, his temperament be cold and passionless, he will exhibit traits of the most painful reserve. This proposition cannot, perhaps, be more forcibly illustrated than by a comparison of the manners of Davy and Cavendish, whose temperaments were certainly as much opposed to each other as fire is to ice: the latter, however, was shy and bashful, to a degree bordering upon disease; and nothing so much distressed him as an introduction to strangers, or as his being pointed out as a person distinguished in science. On one of the Sunday evening _soirées_ of Sir Joseph Banks, he happened to be conversing with his friend Mr. Hatchett, when Dr. Ingenhouz, who was rather remarkable for pomposity of manner, approached him with an Austrian gentleman in his hand, and introduced him formally to Mr. Cavendish. He recounted the titles and qualifications of his foreign friend at great length, and concluded by saying, that he had been particularly anxious to be introduced to a philosopher so universally celebrated throughout Europe as Mr. Cavendish. As soon as Dr. Ingenhouz had finished, the Austrian gentleman began; he assured Mr. Cavendish that one of his principal inducements in coming to London, was to see and converse with one whom he considered the most distinguished chemist of the age. To all these high-flown addresses, Mr. Cavendish answered not a single word, but stood with his eyes cast down upon the floor, in a state of the most painful confusion. At length, espying an opening in the crowd, he darted through it with all the speed he could command, and never stopped until he reached his carriage, which immediately drove him home.