It would gratify me to be of any service to you. I wish it may be in my power.
I am, Sir, your obedient humble servant,
H. Davy.
I must now recall the reader's attention to the affair of the gunpowder manufactory, to which some allusion has been already made. It is far from my wish to intrude upon the public any account of a private transaction; but the circumstances to which I must refer are already well known, and I believe, moreover, that they have been the subject of misrepresentation.
The letters I shall introduce appear to me highly interesting; and by the warmth of feeling with which they repel the bare suspicion of his prostituting science to the acquisition of wealth, to develope a feature in his character too important to be omitted in a memoir of his life.
From the following letter, it would appear that Davy's alarms, with respect to his responsibilities, were first awakened by a sight of the labels, in which his name was introduced.[2]
TO JOHN GEORGE CHILDREN, ESQ.
Rokeby, July — 1813.
MY DEAR CHILDREN,
I am very sorry you did not come to Cobham, as the party was very pleasant.
Your apparatus was magnificent, worthy an Imperial Institute: there were some swine however for the pearls; at least, there was one,—you cannot suppose I mean any other than——.