lecturer was at the City Philosophical Society. This was in January, 1816; and in the same year his first published paper appeared in the Quarterly Journal of Science.

Speaking of this lecture and paper, his biographer remarks, "Neither was important in itself, but each resembled those little streams which travellers are taken to look at because they are the sources of mighty rivers; for Faraday became the prince of experimental lecturers, and his long series of published researches have won for him the highest niche in the temple of science."

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In the summer of 1821 Faraday was united in marriage to a lady who was worthy of his choice. He gratefully speaks of this union as an event which more than any other contributed to his happiness and healthful state of mind." Under date of 25th January, 1847, in his book of diplomas, we have the following entry :

Amongst these records and events, I here insert the date of one which, as a source of honour and happiness, far exceeds all the rest. We were married on June 12th, 1821. "M. FARADAY."

Fourteen years after the date of his first connection with the Royal Institution as laboratory assistant, Faraday appeared in the lecture-room of the same Institution to take his place among the leading philosophers of the day. Sir Roderick Murchison used to mention that three years previously, when Faraday was helping Professor Brande during the delivery of a course of lectures, the Professor being absent one day, "his assistant took his place, and lectured with so much ease that he won the complete approval of his audience." This, he said, was Faraday's first lecture at the Royal Institution.

"When a young lecturer, Faraday took lessons in elocution from Mr. Smart, and was at great pains to cure himself of any defect of pronunciation or manner; for this purpose he would get a friendly critic to form part of his audience. Indeed, in early days, it was so much a matter of anxiety to him that everything in his lectures should be as perfect as possible, that he not only was accustomed to go over everything again and again in his mind, but the difficulty of satisfying himself used to trouble his dreams." In four letters to his early friend Abbott he makes some admirable observations on the delivery of lectures, showing much well-weighed thought on the matter. "He allows a lecturer to prepare his discourse in writing, but not to read it before the audience, and points out how necessary it is 'to raise their interest at the commencement of a lecture,

and by a series of imperceptible gradations, unnoticed by the company, keep it alive as long as the subject demands it.' He casti gates those speakers who descend so low as 'to angle for claps,' or who throw out hints for commendation, and shows that apologies should be made as seldom as possible." He insists strongly on clearness and simplicity of style, and observes, ""Tis well, too, when the lecturer has the presence of mind and ready wit to turn any casual circumstance to an illustration of the subject."

Faraday's growing reputation in scientific investigation brought him numerous inquiries, specially with reference to the application of newly-discovered natural forces to various departments of mechani cal philosophy. Among his various correspondents, we meet with a name which perhaps we should hardly have expected to find in such a list, that of the late Louis Napoleon, then a prisoner in the fortress of Ham, who wrote to ask him, "What is the most simple combination to give to a voltaic battery, in order to produce a spark capable of setting fire to powder under water or under ground?" remarking, also, "It is indeed in studying the great discoveries which science is indebted to you for, that I render my captivity less sad, and make time flow with rapidity:"

Sometimes the patience of the industrious worker was tried by interruptions from "those pertinacious bores, the dabblers in science. One morning a young man called on him, and with an air of great importance confided to him the result of some original researches (as he deemed them) in electrical philosophy. 'And pray,' asked the Professor, taking down a volume of Rees' Cyclopædia, did you consult this or any elementary work to learn whether your discovery had been anticipated?' young man replied in the negative. 'Then why do you come to waste my time about well-known facts that were published forty years ago?' 'Sir,' said the visitor, 'I thought I had better bring the matter to head-quarters.' 'All very well for you,' replied the Professor, 'but not so well for head-quarters;' and set him down to read the article.'

The

At the same time, remembering his own early difficulties, there was a class of visitors to whom he was ever ready to give kind attention, although the demand upon his time could be ill met; and he would give information, coupled with encouraging words, to some young student of natural science, and so send him "forward on the journey of life with new energy and hope."

His readiness to confer gratification upon others is thus referred to by one who had himself experienced his courtesy: "I ventured to ask him (if not too much engaged) to let me see where he and Davy had worked. With the most simple graciousness he brought me through the whole of the Royal Institution, Albemarle Street. Brande's furnaces, Davy's battery, the place in the laboratory where he told me he had first observed the liquefaction of chlorine, are all vividly before me."

Faraday's labours in scientific investigation were as diligent, as patient and persevering, as they were important and successful. His " Experimental Researches in Chemistry" alone, extending over a period of twenty-seven years, are described by a competent authority as "one of the most marvellous monuments of intellectual work, one of the rarest treasure-houses of newlydiscovered knowledge, with which the world has ever been enriched."

The only honour that Faraday ever sought from any learned body was that of being elected Fellow of the Royal Society, then and still one of the most distinguished diplomas. This was conferred upon him by ballot in January, 1824. "He paid the fees, and never sought another distinction of the kind. But they were showered down upon him. The Philosophical Society of Cambridge had already acknowledged his merits, and the learned academies of Paris and Florence had enrolled him amongst their corresponding members. Heidelberg and St. Petersburg, Philadelphia and Boston, Copenhagen, Berlin, and Palermo, quickly followed; and as the fame of his researches spread, very many other learned societies in Europe and America, as well as at home, brought to him the tribute of their honorary memberships. He thrice received the degree of Doctor,-Oxford making him a D.C.L., Cambridge an LL.D., and Prague a Ph.D.; besides which, he was instituted a Chevalier of the Prussian Order of Merit, and a Commander of the Legion of Honour. Among the medals which he received were each of those at the disposal of the Royal Society, indeed the Copley Medal was given him twice, and the Grande Médaille d'Honneur at the time of the French Exhibition.

"Altogether, it appears he was decorated with ninety-five titles and marks of merit, including the blue ribbon of science, for in 1844 he was chosen one of the eight foreign associates of the French Academy." The celebrated electrician P. Riess, of Berlin, once addressed a long letter to him

as "Professor Michael Faraday, Member of all Academies of Science, London."

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In the character of Faraday, simplicity and strength were remarkably blended. His biographer observes, "There persons now living who watched this man of strong will and intense feelings raising himself from the lower ranks of society, yet without losing his balance; rather growing in simplicity, disinterestedness, and humility, as princes became his correspondents, and all the learned bodies of the world vied with each other to do him homage." In his Swiss Journal, when referring to some of the occupations of the peasantry at Interlaken, he writes, “Cloutnail making goes on here rather considerably, and is a very neat and pretty operation to observe. I love a smith's shop, and anything relating to smithery. My father was a smith." In an elogy pronounced on Faraday by M. Dumas, at the Académie des Sciences, the French savant remarked, "The simplicity of his heart, his candour, his ardent love of the truth, his fellow-interest in all the successes, and ingenuous admiration of all the discoveries of others, his natural modesty in regard to what he himself discovered, his noble soul, independent and bold,-all these combined gave an incomparable charm to the features of the illustrious physicist. I have never known a man more worthy of being loved, of being admired, of being mourned. Fidelity to his religious faith, and the constant observance of the moral law, constitute the ruling characteristics of his life."

As we trace the career of Faraday, we continually meet with evidences of that "faith unfeigned" which he held so firmly. He could say, like St. Paul, "The life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, Who loved me, and gave Himself for me." In a letter to the managers of the Royal Institution in the year 1861, when, after nearly fifty years of professional service, he found it necessary to resign part of his duties, and now reviewing his long connection with Albemarle Street, he says, "Thank God first of all for His gifts." scientific friend gives us the following reminiscence of the Christian philosopher : "When my wife and my only son were taken away together, and I lay ill of the same fatal disease, he called at my house, and in spite of remonstrances found his way to the infected chamber. He would have taken me by the hand if I had allowed him; and then he sat awhile by my bedside, consoling me with his sympathy, and cheering me with Christian hope." Shortly

A

before his death he wrote to the Comte de Paris: "I bow before Him who is Lord of all, and hope to be kept waiting patiently for His time and mode of releasing me, according to His Divine Word, and the great and precious promises whereby His people are made partakers of the Divine nature."

Faraday's religious life was nurtured in communion with a body of Christians known as the Sandemanians. With some of their peculiarities we might find fault. Nevertheless, it was among these obscure people, whose name is rarely now mentioned, that Faraday found the fellowship of the "Church militant here upon earth."

A very rigid enforcement of their disciplinary regulations, alike on private members and Church officers, is a prominent feature of the Sandemanians. An instance of this is mentioned in the memoir before us.

Faraday was an elder of the Church for two successive periods. "The first period came to a close through his separation from the office and from the Church itself. The reason of this is said to have been that one Sunday he was absent from the lovefeast, and, on inquiry being made, it appeared not only that he had been the guest of the Queen, but that he was ready to justify his own conduct in obeying her commands. He, however, continued to worship with his friends, and was after awhile restored to the rights of membership, and eventually to the office of elder." Faraday was one of the Sandemanian preachers, and his services seem to have been much valued. Among the latest of his sermons was one preached at Dundee about four years before his death. One of the elders present on that occasion said, "His face shone as it had been the face of an angel." A scientific friend who heard him preach occasionally, says of his sermons, "They struck me as resembling a Mosaic work of texts. At first you could hardly understand their juxtaposition and relationship, but as the well-chosen pieces were filled in, by degrees their congruity and fitness became developed, and at last an amazing sense of the power and beauty of the whole filled one's thoughts at the close of the discourse."

Let us turn from Faraday preaching in the plain little chapel in Paul's Alley, Red Cross Street, and look at a picture of him when lecturing in the Royal Institution. "It was an irresistible eloquence which compelled attention and enlisted sympathy. There was a gleaming in his eyes which no painter could copy. Their radiance seemed to send a strange light into the very heart

of his congregation; and when he spoke, it was felt that the stir of his voice and the fervour of his words could belong only to the owner of those kindling eyes. His thought was rapid, and made itself a way in new phrases,-if it found none ready made, as the mountaineer cuts steps in the most hazardous ascent with his own ахе. His enthusiasm sometimes carried him to the point of ecstasy when he expatiated on the beauties of Nature, and when he lifted the veil from her deep mysteries. His body then took motion from his mind: his hair streamed out from his head; his hands were full of nervous action; his light, lithe body seemed to quiver with its eager life. His audience took fire with him, and every face was flushed. Whatever might be the afterthought, or the after-pursuit, each hearer for the time shared his zeal and his delight."

We had marked other particulars to introduce into this brief and imperfect notice, but that we may not exceed our limits we will merely add a view of his home-life by Professor Tyndall, written after dining one day with the philosopher, and one or two remarks of his biographer. "At two o'clock he came down for me. He, his niece, and myself formed the party. He said grace. I am almost ashamed to call his prayer a 'saying' of grace. In the language of Scripture, it might be described as the petition of a son into whose heart God had sent the Spirit of His Son, and who with absolute trust asked a blessing from his Father. . . He was bright and joyful -boy-like in fact, though he is now sixty-two. His work excites admiration, but contact with him warms and elevates the heart. Here, surely, is a strong man. I love strength, but never let me forget the example of its union with modesty, tenderness, and sweetness, in the life of Faraday."

In his Memoir, which gives within a small compass a comprehensive view of Faraday's personal character and scientific labours, Dr. Gladstone remarks: "That he exercised constant self-control without becoming hard, ascended the pathway of fame without ever losing his balance, and shed around himself a peculiar halo of love and joyousness, must be attributed in no small degree to a heart at peace with God, and to the consciousness of a

higher life. . . . . It was well known

that the Professor at Albemarle Street was one of that long line of scientific men, beginning with the savants of the East, who brought to the Redeemer the gold, frankincense, and myrrh of their adoration."