This strongly confirms the view of the Duke of Wellington’s character given in the preceding pages. After examining all the more important combinations which might be made for the conflict, and having selected those which appeared the best, it is quite natural, if any accident deranged the original plan, that he should perceive, more quickly than another commander, one amongst the many plans previously rejected which was immediately applicable to the new and unexpected circumstances.
CHAPTER XIII. RECOLLECTIONS OF WOLLASTON, DAVY, AND ROGERS.
Secretaryship of Royal Society — Mr. Murray of Albemarle Street — Remark on “The Decline of Science” — Dr. Somerville — Explanation of a Job of Sir Humphry Davy — History of the Thaumatrope — Introduction to Mr. Rogers — The Poet nearly run over — Anecdote of the “Economy of Manufactures” — Teaches the Author how to live for ever — Rapidity of composition amongst Poets — Different effects of Imagination in the Poet and the Philosopher — Consultation about the Author’s unwritten Novel.
IN 1826, one of the secretaryships of the Royal Society became vacant. Dr. Wollaston and several others of the leading members of the Society and of the Council wished that I should be appointed. This would have been the more agreeable to me, because my early friend Herschel was at that time the senior Secretary.
This arrangement was agreed to by Sir H. Davy, and I left town with the full assurance that I was to have the appointment. In the mean time Sir H. Davy summoned a Council at an unusual hour—eight o’clock in the evening—for a special purpose, namely, some arrangement about the Treasurer’s accounts.
After the business relating to the Treasurer was got through, Sir H. Davy observed that there was a secretaryship vacant, and he proposed to fill it up.
〈SIR HUMPHRY DAVY’S DISCOURSES.〉
Dr. Wollaston then asked Sir Humphry Davy if he claimed the nomination as a right of the President, to which {187} Sir H. Davy replied that he did, and then nominated Mr. Children. The President, as president, has no such right; and even if he had possessed it, he had promised Mr. Herschel that I should be his colleague. There were upright and eminent men on that council; yet no one of them had the moral courage to oppose the President’s dictation, or afterwards to set it aside on the ground of its irregularity.
A few years after, whilst I was on a visit at Wimbledon Park, Dr. and Mrs. Somerville came down to spend the day. Dr. Somerville mentioned a very pleasant dinner he had had with the late Mr. John Murray of Albemarle Street, and also a conversation relating to my book “On the Decline of Science in England.” Mr. Murray felt hurt at a remark I had made on himself (page [107]) whilst criticizing a then unexplained job of Sir Humphry Davy’s. Dr. Somerville assured Mr. Murray that he knew me intimately, and that if I were convinced that I had done him an injustice, nobody would be more ready to repair it. A few days after, Mr. Murray put into Dr. Somerville’s hands papers explaining the whole of the transaction. These papers were now transferred to me. On examining them I found ample proof of what I had always suspected. The observation I had made which pained Mr. Murray fell to the ground as soon as the real facts were known, and I offered to retract it in any suitable manner. One plan I proposed was to print a supplemental page, and have it bound up with all the remaining copies of the “Decline of Science.”
Mr. Murray was satisfied with my explanation, but did not wish me to take the course I proposed, at least, not at that time. Various objections may have presented themselves to his mind, but the affair was adjourned with the understanding that at some future time I should explain the real state of {188} the facts which had led to this misinterpretation of Mr. Murray’s conduct.