On the day appointed, a deputation of Gentlemen proceeded in their carriages to the house of his mother, for the purpose of conducting him to the hotel, where an appropriate entertainment had been provided for the occasion. The following letter evinces the sincere satisfaction which this visit afforded him. TO THOMAS POOLE, ESQ. Penzance, July 28, 1821. MY DEAR POOLE, An uncontrollable necessity has brought me here. Close to the Land's-end I am enjoying the majestic in nature, and living over again the days of my infancy and early youth. The living beings that act upon me are interesting subjects for contemplation. Civilization has not yet destroyed in their minds the semblance of the great Parent of good. Nature has done much for the inhabitants of Mount's Bay, by presenting to their senses all things that can awaken in the mind the emotions of greatness and sublimity. She has placed them far from cities, and given them forms of visible and audible beauty. I am now reviving old associations, and endeavouring to attach old feelings to a few simple objects. I am, &c. H. DAVY. Although the letter which follows is without date, I am unwilling to withhold it. TO THOMAS POOLE, ESQ. MY DEAR POOLE, I have been for some weeks absent from London, and have only just received your letter. When I return in the winter, I shall be glad to see Mr. A.--I regret that your niece is so much indisposed. Lady Davy has been obliged to change her climate in consequence of a long-continued cough, but I am happy in being able to say she is now quite well. After the fatigues of a long season in London, I am now enjoying the Highland scenery and sports with a purer pleasure, and I find, after the Alps and Pyrenees, even the mountains of Scotland possessing some peculiar beauties. You ought to come and see this country, which you would enjoy, both as a lover of nature and of man. The one is grand and beautiful; the other, moral, active, and independent. I am, my dear Poole, your obliged friend, H. DAVY. The Philosophical Transactions, during the Presidency of Sir Humphry Davy, evince the alacrity with which he redeemed the pledge given to the Society in his address on taking the chair-- "And though your good opinion has, as it were, honoured me with a rank similar to that of General, I shall be always happy to act as a private soldier in the ranks of Science." * * * * * Many years before even the identity of lightning and electricity was suspected, it had been observed, on several occasions, that the magnetism of the compass needle was not only destroyed, which might have been attributed to heat, but that it was even reversed by lightning.[67]