If I thought that people in general would think as favourably of my poetical productions, I would write more verses, and would write them with more care; but I fear you are partial: I am very glad, however, that you like the little song; at some future period I will send you another. With kind remembrances, unalterably your sincere friend, H. DAVY. [47] The subject was "_Julia's Eyes_." On examining the laboratory notes made at this period, many of which, however, are nearly illegible from blots of ink and stains of acid, it would appear that his researches into the composition of mineral bodies were most extensive, and that he obtained many new results, of which he does not seem to have availed himself in any of his subsequent papers. To borrow a metaphor from his favourite amusement, he treated such results as small fry, which he returned to their native element to grow bigger, or to be again caught by some less aspiring brother of the angle. Had Davy, at this period of his life, been anxious to obtain wealth,[48] such was his chemical reputation, and such the value attached to his judgment, that, by lending his assistance to manufacturers and projectors, he might easily have realized it; but his aspirations were of a nobler kind--SCIENTIFIC GLORY was the grand object for which his heart panted: by stopping to collect the golden apples, he might have lost the race. [48] I am assured by one of his earliest friends, that, at this period, he did not appear even to have an idea of the value of property. Any thing not immediately necessary to him he gave away, and never retained a book after he had read it. CHAPTER V. Sir Thomas Bernard allots Davy a piece of ground for Agricultural Experiments.--History of the Origin of the Royal Institution.--Its early labours.--Davy's Letters to Mr. Gilbert and to Mr. Poole.--Death of Mr. Gregory Watt.--Davy's passion for Fishing, with Anecdotes.--He makes a Tour in Ireland: his Letters on the subject.--His paper on the Analysis of the Wavellite.--His Memoirs on a new method of analysing Minerals which contain a fixed Alkali.--Reflections on the discovery of Galvanic Electricity. Very shortly after Davy had arrived in London, he formed an intimate friendship with Mr. (afterwards Sir Thomas) Bernard; and no sooner had he directed his attention to the subject of Philosophical Agriculture, than the worthy Baronet allotted him a considerable piece of ground near his villa at Roehampton, where, under his sole direction, numerous experiments were tried, many of which proved highly successful, and afterwards served for the illustration of various subjects in his work on AGRICULTURAL CHEMISTRY.