[112] Byron's lines in the first canto of 'Don Juan' will doubtless recur to many of my readers: 'This is the patent age of new inventions For killing bodies and for saving souls, All propagated with the best intentions; Sir Humphry Davy's lantern by which coals Are safely mined for in the mode he mentions.' Jackson's account of Timbuctoo; the narrative of Robert Adams, a sailor; Dr. Leyden's 'Discoveries in Africa,' and other works, are then hinted at; and the poet goes on, sardonically, to say that _all these_ 'Are ways to benefit mankind, as true Perhaps, as shooting them at Waterloo.' [113] Whilst at Naples he made the acquaintance of one of the guides up Vesuvius, whom Davy commissioned to inform him from time to time of the state of the volcano; the man used occasionally to communicate with him, and the letters reached Sir Humphry, notwithstanding their phonetic address: 'Siromfredevi, 'Londra.' [114] As a rule he is said to have been careless about his costume; it was with the greatest difficulty that he was persuaded to don a quasi-court dress in order to be presented to the Empress Josephine, and his negligent appearance and manners often surprised his Continental acquaintances. About one thing, however, he was rather particular; and that was to wear a wide-brimmed hat whenever he could. [115] The Davy medal of the Royal Society was, in 1882, presented, in duplicate, to D. Mendelejeff and Lothar Meyer for their discovery of the periodic relations of the atomic weights. [116] He would often go two or three hundred miles for a day's fishing, and has more than once patiently fished all day long without a rise; he was, however, generally a successful as well as an enthusiastic fisherman, but seems to have been thought somewhat clumsy in his manipulation. [117] The first edition was genially reviewed by Sir Walter Scott in the _Quarterly Review_, xxxviii. 503. Sir Walter used to say of Davy, in allusion to his well-known preference for his _old_ associates and acquaintances, that 'he never forgot a friend.' [118] It should, perhaps, be remarked here that Davy was an excellent linguist. [119] The centenary of his birth was celebrated at Penzance in February, 1879. [120] There is also a tablet to his memory in the north transept of Westminster Abbey. [121] Dr. Paris, F.R.S., has appended to his 'Life of Davy' an historical sketch of the revolutions in chemical science produced by his discoveries, and also a list of his chief works, which may conveniently be consulted by those who desire more detailed information as to Davy's scientific triumphs. _ADMIRAL VISCOUNT EXMOUTH._ [Illustration: (beginning of chapter vignette.)] _ADMIRAL VISCOUNT EXMOUTH._ 'Hearts of oak! our captain cried-- When each gun From its adamantine lips Spread a death-shade round the ships, Like the hurricane eclipse Of the sun.' CAMPBELL.