It is said, that on conversing in the chamber of the Institute, he received one of its most distinguished and venerable members, who approached him with the air of salutation, without rising from his seat; a circumstance perhaps in itself of very trifling importance, but it was considered as a mark of disrespect, which is not readily forgiven, when a spirit of rivalry may be supposed to sharpen the affront. It will be remembered that Cæsar might date his loss of popularity to the fact of his having received the Senate while sitting in the porch of the temple of Venus, and that it formed one of the chief pretences of those who organised the conspiracy against his person. There were, besides, other sources of unpopularity, which we are bound in fairness and candour to impute to the excellencies, rather than to the defects, of his character. If we believe with Johnson, that men have sometimes gained reputation from their foibles, we may certainly admit the converse of the proposition, that they have occasionally lost it from their virtues. Davy, as we have seen, possessed from his earliest years a frankness of disposition which endeared him to all his friends, but in after life it unquestionably exposed him to various annoyances, which by a little reserve he would have certainly escaped. It is quite surprising how much a little mystery, judiciously managed, will achieve. Seven veils converted the fragment of a tile, ploughed up in the neighbourhood of Florence, into an object of awful devotion.[8] [8] Gray's Letters. Although it must be admitted that our philosopher lost some popularity during his visit to the French metropolis, the _savans_ did not the less respect his talents, or admire his discoveries. They appear to have been impressed with the same sentiment as that which animated Voltaire, when he asked whether the discovery of Racine's weakness made the part of Phædra less admirable. M. Dumas, who is certainly by no means distinguished for the readiness with which he is disposed to pay homage to British talent, has declared that Davy was the greatest chemical genius that ever appeared. In fact, the more the researches of this great experimentalist are studied, the more they must be admired: every attempt to depreciate their intrinsic importance will only serve to display their exalted merits; every attempt to falsify their results will only tend to demonstrate their accuracy. It is by an elaborate examination only, that the full evidence of their truth can be displayed; there are points which the keen eye of genius will discern, that are invisible to a grosser sense: the coldness of criticism then will only make them glow the brighter; like his own potassium, the contact even of ice, so far from extinguishing, will light them up in splendour.