Such was his great celebrity at this period of his career, that persons of the highest rank contended for the honour of his company at dinner, and he did not possess sufficient resolution to resist the gratification thus afforded, although it generally happened that his pursuits in the laboratory were not suspended until the appointed dinner-hour had passed. On his return in the evening, he resumed his chemical labours, and commonly continued them till three or four o'clock in the morning; and yet the servants of the establishment not unfrequently found that he had risen before them. The greatest of all his wants was Time, and the expedients by which he economised it often placed him in very ridiculous positions, and gave rise to habits of the most eccentric description: driven to an extremity, he would in his haste put on fresh linen, without removing that which was underneath; and, singular as the fact may appear, he has been known, after the fashion of the grave-digger in Hamlet, to wear no less than five shirts, and as many pair of stockings, at the same time. Exclamations of surprise very frequently escaped from his friends at the rapid manner in which he increased and declined in corpulence.

At the commencement of his severe illness in November 1807, he was immediately attended by Dr. Babington and Dr. Frank; and upon its assuming a more serious aspect, these gentlemen were assisted by Dr. Baillie. Such was the alarming state of the patient, that for many weeks his physicians regularly visited him four times in the day, and issued bulletins for the information of the numerous enquirers who anxiously crowded the hall of the Institution. His kind and amiable qualities had secured the attachment of all the officers and servants of the establishment, and they eagerly anticipated every want his situation might require. The housekeeper, Mrs. Greenwood, watched over him with all the care and solicitude of a parent; and, with the exception of a single night, never retired to her bed for the period of eleven weeks. In the latter stage of his illness, he was reduced to the extreme of weakness, and his mind participated in the debility of the body. It may not perhaps be thought philosophical to deduce any inference, as to character, from traits which are displayed under such circumstances: I have little doubt, however, but that the mind, like inorganic matter, will, in its decay, frequently develope important elements, which under other conditions were not distinguishable. Suppose pride and timidity to exist as qualities in the same mind, the former might so far predominate as to enable its possessor to face the cannon's mouth; but diminish its force by moral or physical agency, the natural timidity will gain the ascendency, and the hero be converted into a coward. Such are my reasons for introducing the following anecdote: I would not give to it a greater value than it deserves, but it surely demonstrates the existence of kindly affections. Youthful reminiscences, and circumstances connected with his family and friends, were the only objects which, at this period, occupied his thoughts, and afforded him any pleasure. No Swiss peasant ever sighed more deeply for his native mountains, than did Davy for the scenes of his early years. He entreated his nurse to convey to his friends his ardent wish to obtain some apples from a particular tree which he had planted when a boy; and, unlike Locke with his cherries, he had no power of controlling the desire by his reason, but remained in a state of restlessness and impatience until their arrival: at the same time, he expressed a wish to obtain several other objects, especially an ancient tea-pot, endeared to him by early associations.

The following Minute appears on the Journals of the Institution:—

"December 7, 1807.—Mr. Davy having been confined to his bed for the last fortnight by a severe illness, the Managers are under the painful necessity of giving notice, that the Lectures will not commence until the first week in January next."

The Course was, at the time stated, opened by the Reverend Mr. (now Dr.) Dibdin; and his introductory lecture was, by order of the Managers, printed "for the satisfaction of those proprietors who were not present." It thus commences:—"Before I solicit your attention to the opening of those Lectures which I shall have the honour of delivering in the course of the season, permit me to trespass upon it for a few minutes, by stating the peculiar circumstances under which this Institution is again opened; and how it comes to pass that it has fallen to me, rather than to a more deserving lecturer, to be the first to address you.

"The Managers have requested me to impart to you that intelligence, which no one who is alive to the best feelings of human nature can hear without mixed emotions of sorrow and delight.

"Mr. Davy, whose frequent and powerful addresses from this place, supported by his ingenious experiments, have been so long and so well known to you, has for these last five weeks been struggling between life and death;—the effects of those experiments recently made in illustration of his splendid discoveries, added to consequent bodily weakness, brought on a fever so violent as to threaten the extinction of life. Over him, it might emphatically be said, in the language of our immortal Milton, that

——'Death his dart

Shook, but delayed to strike.'

Had it pleased Providence to have deprived the world of any further benefit from his original talents and immense application, there certainly has been already enough effected by him to entitle his name to a place amongst the brightest scientific luminaries of his country. That this may not appear an unfounded eulogium, I shall proceed, at the particular request of the Managers, to give you an outline of the splendid discoveries to which I have just alluded; and I do so with the greater pleasure, as that outline has been drawn in a very masterly manner by a gentleman of all others perhaps the best qualified to do it effectually."