[80] We may compare with this what Gibbon says of his own training. “Whatsoever have been the fruits of my education, they must be ascribed to the fortunate banishment which placed me at Lausanne.”—Ed.
[81] Sir R. Hill, in after years, saw a good deal of Lord Brougham. He thus writes of him:—“Judging by what I observed, I should say that, wide as was the range of his knowledge—far wider, indeed, than I could measure,—it was deficient in accuracy, and therefore in profundity. This, indeed, must be evident to all who regard the undulatory theory of light as now fully established.... Other instances of inaccuracy, doubtless of a minor, but yet of a serious character, I found in his essay on Hydrostatics, written for the Useful Knowledge Society, and, as it happened, referred to me by the Committee for report thereon. On the other hand, I found much more of kindliness in him than the world generally gave him credit for, and in particular I remember with gratitude the important help which he freely and promptly rendered to myself.”—Ed.
[82] Writing to Mr. M. D. Hill on September 5, 1834, he says:—“However absurd it may appear, I do really believe that Mr. Spring Rice [at that time Secretary to the Colonies] has jumbled up together in his mind the statements as to the sterility of some parts of the Continent with the ample evidence of the fertility of other parts, and has got a notion that the evidence is contradictory.”—Ed.
[83] See “First Annual Report of the Colonisation Commissioners for South Australia,” pp. 7 and 13, and “Fourth Report,” p. 3.
[84] “Third and Fourth Reports of the South Australian Commissioners.”
[85] “Third Report,” p. 18.
[86] See page 69.
[87] The office was No. 6, next door to the house in which Garrick had died; and this, on an alarm of fire, I once entered at the request of the occupant. I need not say with what interest.
[88] It was in the same year that he received this refusal that he and Mr. Lefevre formed the small society which has been described on page 209. He has recorded that the society discussed “the possibility of feeding the machine mechanically with a continuous supply of sheets.... I scarcely need add that we found the problem insoluble.”—Ed.
[89] The offer was made by Mr. Wm. Clowes, Sen. I should have had to contribute, I think, about £5,000 of capital, and my share of the profits was estimated at £2,500 a-year.