ht; but his ability and the usefulness of his
contributions to knowledge, cannot be doubted."

The life of Smithson was uncheered by domestic affection; he was
of singularly retiring disposition, had no intimacies, spent the
closing years of his life in Paris, and was long the uncomplaining
victim of a painful malady. Professor Langley said of him:

"One gathers from his letters, from the uniform consideration with
which he speaks of others, from kind traits which he showed, and
from the general tenor of what is not here particularly cited, the
remembrance of an innately gentle nature, but also of a man who is
gradually renouncing not without bitterness the youthful hope of
fame, and as health and hope diminished together, is finally living
for the day, rather than for any future."

He died in Genoa, Italy, June 27, 1829, and was buried in the little
English cemetery on the heights of San Benigno. The Institution
he founded has placed a tablet over his tomb and surrounded it with
evidences of continued and thoughtful care.

His will--possibly of deeper concern to mankind than any yet written
--bears date October 23, 1826. In its opening clause he designates
himself: "Son of Hugh, First Duke of Northumberland, and Elizabeth,
heiress of the Hungerfords of Studley, and niece to Charles the
proud Duke of Somerset." Herein clearly appears his undying
resentment toward those who had denied him the position in life to
which he considered himself justly entitled.

The only persons designated in his will as legatees are a faithful
servant, for whom abundant provision was made, and Henry James
Hungerford, nephew of the testator. To the latter was devised the
entire estate except the legacy to the servant mentioned. The
clause of the will which has given the name of Smithson to the ages
seems to have been almost casually inserted; it appears between
the provision for his servant and the one for an investment of the
funds.

The clause in his will which was to cause his name "to live in the
memory of man when the titles of the Northumberlands and the Percys
are extinct and forgotten," was,--

"In the case of the death of my said nephew without leaving a child
or children, or the death of the child or children he may have had
under the age of twenty-one years, or intestate, I then bequeath
the whole of my property subject to the annuity of one hundred
pounds to John Fitall (for the security and payment of which I have