The German, French, Spanish, and Italian languages were as familiar to the Count as the English, both in speaking and writing. His only recreations were playing at billiards against himself, for want of one to play with, and walking in his garden, of which he was very fond, though ignorant of botany and even of the common names of the commonest plants. He was very fond of chess, at which he played well, but rarely enjoyed this pleasure, as he said that after a few minutes’ play his feet became like ice and his head like fire. He drew with great skill the designs of his own inventions, but of painting and sculpture he had no knowledge and little feeling; nor had he any taste for poetry. He had, however, great taste for landscape-gardening. His habits of life were latterly most abstemious, so much so that he had not sufficient vital strength to resist a nervous fever, which carried him off on the 21st of August, after three days’ illness, when he was on the eve of returning to England, to which as long as he lived he retained the most devoted attachment. In the ‘Moniteur Universel’ of August 25, 1814, the death and burial of Count Rumford are mentioned. An address was pronounced over his grave by the Baron Benjamin Delessert, his friend and banker in Paris, on the 24th. The news of Count Rumford’s illness and burial reached the French Academy at the same time, so that the members were unable to attend his funeral. On January 9, 1815, Baron Cuvier read his éloge to the Academy. In it he said: Nous l’y avons vu, en effet, pendant dix ans honoré des Français et des étrangers, estimé des amis des sciences, partageant leurs travaux, aidant de ses avis jusqu’aux moindres artisans, gratifiant noblement le public de tout ce qu’il inventait chaque jour d’utile. Rien n’y aurait manqué à la douceur de son existence si l’aménité de son commerce avait égalé son ardeur pour l’utilité publique.