Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 18.djvu/207

Faraday rather than in those addressed to adults, his lucidity was at its best. Except by those well acquainted with his subjects, his Friday evening discourses were sometimes difficult to follow. But he exercised a magic on his hearers which often sent them away persuaded that they knew all about a subject of which they knew but little.

In early days he added to his modest salary from the Royal Institution a supplementary income derived from what he called 'commercial work,' This supplement might have been vast, but just as it allowed signs of expansion, Faraday abandoned it. Between 1823 and 1829 his average annual earnings from such sources were 241l. Between 1830 and 1839 he made by commercial work an average income of 306l. In 1831 his highest figure, 1,090l. 4s., was attained. In 1838, on other hand, it was zero. The fall in Faraday's commercial income synchronised with his discovery of magneto-electricity, when worldly gains became contemptible in comparison with the rich scientific province which he had subdued. In 1836 be became scientific adviser to the Trinity House. From time to time he gave evidence in the law courts but such work was not congenial to him. He was too sensitive to bear the browbeating of cross-examining counsel. The late Lord Cardwell was witness to a gentle but crushing reproof once administered by Faraday to a barrister who attempted to bully him. He, however, soon cut himself adrift from such employment, which as just stated was entirely foreign to his taste. In 1835 Sir Robert Peel wished to offer Faraday a pension; but it fell to Lord Melbourne to perform this gracious act. At the outset, however, his lordship did not acquit himself graciously, being unaware of the sensitive independence of the man with whom he had to deal. By the prime minister's desire, Faraday called to see him. The brusqueness of Lord Melbourne did not please Faraday. He seemed to ridicule the idea of pensions, and in reference to them the term 'humbug' was incautiously used. After quitting the minister, Faraday wrote a short and decisive note declining the pension. But after a good deal of effort on the part of common friends, the matter ended in a manner creditable to all parties. Lord Melbourne sent a written apology to Faraday, who enjoyed the pension of 300l. to the end of his life.

For the relaxation of his mind, he frequently visited the theatres. His food was simple but generous. At his two o'clock dinner he ate his meat and drunk his wine. He began the meal by lifting both hands over the dish before him, and in the tones of a son addressing a father of whose love he was sure, asked a blessing on the food. To those whom he knew to be animated by something higher than mere curiosity, he talked freely of religion; but be never introduced the subject himself. Nearer than anybody known to the writer, he came to the fulfilment of the precept, 'Take no thought for the morrow.' He had absolute confidence that, in case of need, the Lord would provide. A man with such feeling and such faith was naturally heedless of laying by for the future. His faith never wavered; but remained to the end as fresh as when in 1821 he made his 'confession of sin and profession of faith.' In reply to a question from Lady Lovelace, he described himself as belonging to 'a very small and despised sect of Christians, known — if known at all — as Sandemanians; and our hope is founded on the faith as it is in Christ.' He made a strict severance of his religion from his science. Man could not, by reasoning, find out God. He believed in a direct communion between God and the human soul, and these whisperings and monitions of the Divinity were in his view qualitatively different from the data of science.

Faraday was a man of strong emotions. He was generous, charitable, sympathising with human suffering. His five-pound note was ever ready for the meritorious man who had been overtaken by calamity. The tenderness of his nature rendered it difficult for him to refuse the appeal of distress. Still, he knew the evil of indiscriminate almsgiving, and had many times detected imposture; so that be usually distributed his gifts through some charity organisation which assured him that they would be well bestowed.

It has been intimated that in 1841 his health completely broke down. His distress of mind, which was very great, was mainly due to the conviction that his physician did not understand his condition. Scraps of paper covered with remarks in pencil, shown to the present writer, illustrate his nervous prostration at the time here referred to. The following outburst of discontent is a sample: 'Whereas, according to the declaration of that true man of the world Talleyrand, the true use of language is to conceal the thoughts; this is to declare in the present instance, when I say I am not able to bear much talking, it means really, and without any mistake, or equivocation, or oblique meaning, or implication, or subterfuge, or omission, that I am not able; being at present rather weak in the head, and able to work no more.' Some of his best work was, however, done afterwards. On the resignation of Lord Wrottesley, a deputation waited