The following anecdote is well calculated to illustrate that versatility of talent of which I have frequently spoken, as well as the power he possessed of abstracting himself, without detriment, from the most elaborate investigations. A friend of the late Mr. Tobin called upon him at the Institution, and found him deeply engaged in the laboratory; their conversation turned upon "The Honey Moon," which was to be brought out on the following evening.[46] No sooner had Davy heard that, although pressing applications had been made to several of the poets of the day, a Prologue had not yet been written, than he instantly quitted the laboratory, and in two hours produced that which was recited on the occasion by Mr. Bartley, and printed in the first edition of the comedy. I insert it in this place.
No uniformity in life is found:—
In ev'ry scene varieties abound;
And inconsistency still marks the plan
Of that immortal noble being,—Man.
As changeful as the April's morning skies,
His feeling and his sentiments arise;
And Nature to his wond'rous frame has given
The mingled elements of Earth and Heaven.
In diff'rent climes and ages, still we find