[7] In offering these observations, the reader may readily suppose it has not been without much pain that I have made this sacrifice of personal feeling to principle. I am, however, bound to observe, that Sir Humphry's sentiments towards France for the liberal indulgence granted to him were both grateful and kindly; and so strongly does Lady Davy participate in that feeling, that I perhaps owe it to her to state that neither her Ladyship's journals or information have been used upon this occasion. It would be an act of literary dishonesty to assert that Sir H. Davy returned the kindness of the _savans_ of France, in a manner which the friends of Science could have expected and desired. There was a flippancy in his manner, a superciliousness and hauteur in his deportment, which surprised as much as they offended. Whatever opinions he might have formed as to the talents of the leading chemists, it was weakness to betray, and arrogance to avow them. He had, by a single blow, fatally mutilated the system which was the pride and glory of their nation: it was ungenerous to remind them of his triumph. It required but little tact to have reconciled the French philosophers to the revolution he had effected; but, unfortunately, that cannot be said of Davy, which was so wittily observed of Voltaire,--that if he trod upon the toes of their prejudices, he touched his hat at the same time: even the affair of Iodine, had it been skilfully managed, would never have left an angry feeling. It was not his success, but the manner in which he spoke of it, that rendered it so offensive. He should have acted according to the judicious advice given to a member of the clerical profession, upon his consulting a friend as to the propriety of continuing his field-sports, should he become a dignitary of the Church--"You may hunt, but you must not holla." It may be supposed that the unguarded conduct of Davy reached the ear of the Emperor; for in a conversation with one of the leading members of the Institute, Napoleon took occasion to observe, that he understood the young English chemist held them all in low estimation.