SUPPLEMENTARY PORTRAITS.
It has been said that there is no photograph or painting of Faraday which is a satisfactory likeness; not because good portraits have never been published, but because they cannot give the varied and ever-shifting expression of his features. Similarly, I fear that the mental portraiture which I have attempted will fail to satisfy his intimate acquaintance. Yet, as one who never saw him in the flesh may gain a good idea of his personal appearance by comparing several pictures, so the reader may learn more of his intellectual and moral features by combining the several estimates which have been made by different minds. Earlier biographies have been already referred to, but my sketch may well be supplemented by an anonymous poem that appeared immediately after his death, and by the words of two of the most distinguished foreign philosophers—Messrs. De la Rive and Dumas.
"Statesmen and soldiers, authors, artists,—still
The topmost leaves fall off our English oak:
Some in green summer's prime, some in the chill
Of autumn-tide, some by late winter's stroke.
"Another leaf has dropped on that sere heap—
One that hung highest; earliest to invite
The golden kiss of morn, and last to keep
The fire of eve—but still turned to the light.
"No soldier's, statesman's, poet's, painter's name
Was this, thro' which is drawn Death's last black line;
But one of rarer, if not loftier fame—
A priest of Truth, who lived within her shrine.
"A priest of Truth: his office to expound
Earth's mysteries to all who willed to hear—
Who in the book of Science sought and found,
With love, that knew all reverence, but no fear.
"A priest, who prayed as well as ministered:
Who grasped the faith he preached; and held it fast:
Knowing the light he followed never stirred,
Howe'er might drive the clouds thro' which it past.
"And if Truth's priest, servant of Science too,
Whose work was wrought for love and not for gain:
Not one of those who serve but to ensue
Their private profit: lordship to attain
"Over their lord, and bind him in green withes,
For grinding at the mill 'neath rod and cord;
Of the large grist that they may take their tithes—
So some serve Science that call Science lord.
"One rule his life was fashioned to fulfil:
That he who tends Truth's shrine, and does the hest
Of Science, with a humble, faithful will,
The God of Truth and Knowledge serveth best.
"And from his humbleness what heights he won!
By slow march of induction, pace on pace,
Scaling the peaks that seemed to strike the sun,
Whence few can look, unblinded, in his face.
"Until he reached the stand which they that win
A bird's-eye glance o'er Nature's realm may throw;
Whence the mind's ken by larger sweeps takes in
What seems confusion, looked at from below.
"Till out of seeming chaos order grows,
In ever-widening orbs of Law restrained,
And the Creation's mighty music flows
In perfect harmony, serene, sustained;
"And from varieties of force and power,
A larger unity, and larger still,
Broadens to view, till in some breathless hour
All force is known, grasped in a central Will,
"Thunder and light revealed as one same strength—
Modes of the force that works at Nature's heart—
And through the Universe's veinèd length
Bids, wave on wave, mysterious pulses dart.
"That cosmic heart-beat it was his to list,
To trace those pulses in their ebb and flow
Towards the fountain-head, where they subsist
In form as yet not given e'en him to know.
"Yet, living face to face with these great laws,
Great truths, great myst'ries, all who saw him near
Knew him for child-like, simple, free from flaws
Of temper, full of love that casts out fear:
"Untired in charity, of cheer serene;
Not caring world's wealth or good word to earn;
Childhood's or manhood's ear content to win;
And still as glad to teach as meek to learn.
"Such lives are precious: not so much for all
Of wider insight won where they have striven,
As for the still small voice with which they call
Along the beamy way from earth to heaven."
Punch, September 7, 1867.
The estimate of M. A. de la Rive is from a letter he addressed to Faraday himself:—
"I am grieved to hear that your brain is weary; this has sometimes happened on former occasions, in consequence of your numerous and persevering labours, and you will bear in mind that a little rest is necessary to restore you. You possess that which best contributes to peace of mind and serenity of spirit—a full and perfect faith, a pure and tranquil conscience, filling your heart with the glorious hopes which the Gospel imparts. You have also the advantage of having always led a smooth and well-regulated life, free from ambition, and therefore exempt from all the anxieties and drawbacks which are inseparable from it. Honour has sought you in spite of yourself; you have known, without despising it, how to value it at its true worth. You have known how to gain the high esteem, and at the same time the affection, of all those acquainted with you.
"Moreover, thanks to the goodness of God, you have not suffered any of those family misfortunes which crush one's life. You should, therefore, watch the approach of old age without fear and without bitterness, having the comforting feeling that the wonders which you have been able to decipher in the book of nature must contribute to the greater reverence and adoration of their Supreme Author.
"Such, my dear friend, is the impression that your beautiful life always leaves upon me; and when I compare it with our troubled and ill-fulfilled life-course, with all that accumulation of drawbacks and griefs by which mine in particular has been attended, I put you down as very happy, especially as you are worthy of your good fortune. This leads me to reflect on the miserable state of those who are without that religious faith which you possess in so great a degree."
In M. Dumas' Eloge at the Académie des Sciences, occur the following sentences:—
"I do not know whether there is a savant who would not feel happy in leaving behind him such works as those with which Faraday has gladdened his contemporaries, and which he has left as a legacy to posterity: but I am certain that all those who have known him would wish to approach that moral perfection which he attained to without effort. In him it appeared to be a natural grace, which made him a professor full of ardour for the diffusion of truth, an indefatigable worker, full of enthusiasm and sprightliness in his laboratory, the best and most amiable of men in the bosom of his family, and the most enlightened preacher amongst the humble flock whose faith he followed.
"The simplicity of his heart, his candour, his ardent love of the truth, his fellow-interest in all the successes, and ingenuous admiration of all the discoveries of others, his natural modesty in regard to what he himself discovered, his noble soul—independent and bold,—all these combined gave an incomparable charm to the features of the illustrious physicist.
"I have never known a man more worthy of being loved, of being admired, of being mourned.
"Fidelity to his religious faith, and the constant observance of the moral law, constitute the ruling characteristics of his life. Doubtless his firm belief in that justice on high which weighs all our merits, in that sovereign goodness which weighs all our sufferings, did not inspire Faraday with his great discoveries, but it gave him the straightforwardness, the self-respect, the self-control, and the spirit of justice, which enabled him to combat evil fortune with boldness, and to accept prosperity without being puffed up....
"There was nothing dramatic in the life of Faraday. It should be presented under that simplicity of aspect which is the grandeur of it. There is, however, more than one useful lesson to be learnt from the proper study of this illustrious man, whose youth endured poverty with dignity, whose mature age bore honours with moderation, and whose last years have just passed gently away surrounded by marks of respect and tender affection."