Such was his great celebrity at this period of his career, that persons of the highest rank contended for the honour of his company at dinner, and he did not possess sufficient resolution to resist the gratification thus afforded, although it generally happened that his pursuits in the laboratory were not suspended until the appointed dinner-hour had passed. On his return in the evening, he resumed his chemical labours, and commonly continued them till three or four o'clock in the morning; and yet the servants of the establishment not unfrequently found that he had risen before them. The greatest of all his wants was Time, and the expedients by which he economised it often placed him in very ridiculous positions, and gave rise to habits of the most eccentric description: driven to an extremity, he would in his haste put on fresh linen, without removing that which was underneath; and, singular as the fact may appear, he has been known, after the fashion of the grave-digger in Hamlet, to wear no less than five shirts, and as many pair of stockings, at the same time. Exclamations of surprise very frequently escaped from his friends at the rapid manner in which he increased and declined in corpulence. At the commencement of his severe illness in November 1807, he was immediately attended by Dr. Babington and Dr. Frank; and upon its assuming a more serious aspect, these gentlemen were assisted by Dr. Baillie. Such was the alarming state of the patient, that for many weeks his physicians regularly visited him four times in the day, and issued bulletins for the information of the numerous enquirers who anxiously crowded the hall of the Institution. His kind and amiable qualities had secured the attachment of all the officers and servants of the establishment, and they eagerly anticipated every want his situation might require. The housekeeper, Mrs. Greenwood, watched over him with all the care and solicitude of a parent; and, with the exception of a single night, never retired to her bed for the period of eleven weeks. In the latter stage of his illness, he was reduced to the extreme of weakness, and his mind participated in the debility of the body. It may not perhaps be thought philosophical to deduce any inference, as to character, from traits which are displayed under such circumstances: I have little doubt, however, but that the mind, like inorganic matter, will, in its decay, frequently develope important elements, which under other conditions were not distinguishable. Suppose pride and timidity to exist as qualities in the same mind, the former might so far predominate as to enable its possessor to face the cannon's mouth; but diminish its force by moral or physical agency, the natural timidity will gain the ascendency, and the hero be converted into a coward. Such are my reasons for introducing the following anecdote: I would not give to it a greater value than it deserves, but it surely demonstrates the existence of kindly affections.