join more heartily in the peans that already begin to
rise, and will speedily swell into a shout of triumph, astounding even
to yourself, than that of J. F. W. Herschel.'

Faraday's behaviour to Melloni in 1835 merits a word of notice. The
young man was a political exile in Paris. He had newly fashioned and
applied the thermo-electric pile, and had obtained with it results of
the greatest importance. But they were not appreciated. With the
sickness of disappointed hope Melloni waited for the report of the
Commissioners, appointed by the Academy of Sciences to examine the
Primier. At length he published his researches in the 'Annales de
Chimie.' They thus fell into the hands of Faraday, who, discerning at
once their extraordinary merit, obtained for their author the Rumford
Medal of the Royal Society. A sum of money always accompanies this
medal; and the pecuniary help was, at this time, even more essential
than the mark of honour to the young refugee. Melloni's gratitude was
boundless:

'Et vous, monsieur,' he writes to Faraday, 'qui appartenez a une
societe a laquelle je n'avais rien offert, vous qui me connaissiez a
peine de nom; vous n'avez pas demande si j'avais des ennemis faibles
ou puissants, ni calcule quel en etait le nombre; mais vous avez parle
pour l'opprime etranger, pour celui qui n'avait pas le moindre droit a
tant de bienveillance, et vos paroles ont ete accueillies
favorablement par des collegues consciencieux! Je reconnais bien la
des hommes dignes de leur noble mission, les veritable representants
de la science d'un pays libre et genereux.'

Within the prescribed limits of this article it would be impossible to
give even the slenderest summary of Faraday's correspondence, or to
carve from it more than the merest fragments of his character. His
letters, written to Lord Melbourne and others in 1836, regarding his
pension, illustrate his uncompromising independence. The Prime
Minister had offended him, but assuredly the apology demanded and
given was complete. I think 'it certain that, notwithstanding the
very full account of this transaction given by Dr. Bence Jones,
motives and influences were at work which even now are not entirely
revealed. The minister was bitterly attacked, but he bore the censure
of the press with great dignity. Faraday, while he disavowed having
either directly or indirectly furnished the matter of those attacks,
did not publicly exonerate the Premier. The Ho