The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1835-12-18 00:00:00

crIIId.I'ATRO&AGE TO SCIENCE AND

LITERATURE.

Among other hitter whigs who received pensions from Sir
Robert Peel, on the ground of scientific eminence, May be par-
ticularised Professor Airy and Dr. Dalton. We say nothing
of Mrs. Somerville, for a lady's politics go for little; and the
lady in question well deserves to bud favour in the eyes of men
of all parties. Rut Sir Robert Peel found,it impossible, during
his brief tenure of office, to complete the circle which he had
begun. He was, therefore, compelled to draw up -an official
document, in which were inserted the names of certain persons,
to whom it had been his intention to extend•the royal bounty;:
with a particular statement of the amount of pension which hod'
Linen designed for each. Among these, the name of:Faraday
was entered, with au intimation that •he ought to be placed on
an equal footing with Professor Airy, by giving 'him a pension
of £3OO a-year. Indeed„ we rather think that. to Mr. Faraddy
himself a statement to this effect was made, previous to Sir
Robert Peel's resignation; at all events, we know that of Sir
Robert Peel's minute. Lord Melbourne was formally put in pos-
essji,m, and that he felt himself bound tcract upon it.
* * *

So in); Lord Melbourne screwed his courage to the sticking-
place; and resolved to begin wit h.Faraday. Now Faraday • could
not otherwise be distasteful to the whig Premier, than that his
merits had chanced to attract the notice. of Sir Robert Peel ;
yet .ire •that there• was ground enough of displeasure. Accor-
dingly, the liberal prime minister couituenced. operations with
an attempt to put off Mr. Faraday with a pension less in point
of value by one-third than that' which the tory had promised.
It was rather a delicate card this to play—so it was put into the
heads of one'who plays all his cards delicately. Tom Young
was commissioned to sound Faraday's confidential friends, and
to ascertain from them whether he would consent to accept.E2oo
a-year. To this the reply was prompt and peremptory. "It is
not the value•of the pension that is regarded, but .the position
which it marks for the pensioned in the ranks of science.. Mr.
Faraday shall not 'accept a pension 'inferior to that which has
been bestowed upon Professor Airy." This was very mortify-
ing, hut it could nut be helped. So Turn Young went back to
his toaster, and a new mametivre was tried. After a considera-
ble lapse of time had taken place, Faraday, returning from the
country, found on his table one morning a letter from Tom
Y;lling, which announced that Lord Melbourne desired to see
hire. As the letter was of some day's date, he did not pause to
answer it, but went immediately to Downing-street ; where he
was, of course, admitted to the honour of an interview with Tom.
But how shall we describe what followed ? .Not a syllable was
said concerning Sir Robert Peel's:intentions—not so much as
one little compliment paid to the chymist's great merits and
well-earned reputation; ftir, sooth to say, neither Lord Mel-
bunrne nor his man were aware iu what department of science
Mr. Faraday excelled; .but the chymist found himself involved
in the strangest diseussieti of points connected with his opinions,
not'oa the
.subject of Politica: alone, but of religion. At last
Faraday's patience became exhausted, and some such dialogue
as this ensued :
Faraday: " Pray, Mr. Young, what am I to understand by
all this ? I came here in consequence of a letter sent from you,
to see Lord Melbourne. What can my religious opinions have
to do with the busineSs that may he between us ?"
'Young. " Now, Mr. Faraday, with your peculiar opinions,-
du you feel that you would be justified iu accepting a pension
from the government
Faraday. " Now, Mr. Young, allow me to say, in the first
place, that I don'tchoose to answer hypothetical questions; and,
to the next, to ask you whether you are authorised to put such a
question ?II
There is a pause, broken only by a few coughs • after which,
Tom Young /oquitur
" You had better see Lord Melbourne himself." Accord-
ingly, into Lord Melbourne's presence Mr. Faraday is ushered,
an& the following scene ensues

Lord Melbourne. "Take a seat, Mr. Faraday."
Mt: Faisiday does take a seat, and Lord Melbourne sits down
also: Mr. Faraday is silent; so is Lord Melbourne. Mr. Fa-
raday does nothing; Lord Melbourne fidgets upon Hs chair,
claps one leg over the other,_ plays With a letter-folder, but con-
tinues mute. Finally, Mr. Faraday opens the conference.
lam here, my lord, by your desire. Am I to understand
that is on the business which I haie partially discussed with
Mr. Young?"
Lord Melbourne, with considerable emotion. " You mean the
pension, don't you?"
Mr. Faraday. "Y es, my lord."
Lord Melbourne, in high excitement. "Yes, you mean the
pension, and I mean the penlion too. I hate the name of the
pension. • I look upon the whole system or giving pensions to
literary and scientific people as a piece of gross humbug. It
was not done for any good purpose; it never ought to haVe been
done: It is a gross humbug froM beginning to end. It —"
Mr. Faraday, rising, anti making a bow. " After all this, my
lortl; I perceive that my business with your lordship is ended.
I wish you good morning."
Thus back to his lodgings goes Mr. Faraday, not, as may be
imagined, over and above delighted with the urbanity and li-
berality of the whig premier. Neither is he willing that the
matter should rest here. He feels, that in his person the whole
body of scientific and learned men in the kingdom had been in-
sulted; and he detertnineit that Lord MelbOurne shall reef it
likewise. So he sits down and writes a letter somewhat to this
effect: We do not vouch-for the literal ricetfracy of our copy ;
but that we give in substance what Lord Melbourne received.
we are quite certain.
" My lord,—After the pithy manner in which' your lordship
was pleased to express your sentiments on the subject of the
pensions that have been granted to literary and Scientific per-
sons, it only remains for me to relieve you, as far as I am con-
cerned, from all further uneasiness. 1 will not accept any fa-
vour at your hands, nor at the hands of any cabinet of which
you are a member. "I have the honour to he,
• " My lord,
"Your lordship's most obedient
"humble servant."
Off went the letter, which was perused, with what feelings we
du not pretend to'say; but before Many hours elapsed Tom.
Young—the indefatigable Tom Young—was again a-foot,
charged with some important mission. Now Tour has his own
way of doing things. Like whigs in general, he has a' great
abhorrence to a straight road. He will go round-about and
round-about, where a tory would push directly to his point, and
be flatters himself that in so doing'he displays singular skill as
diplomatist. He does not, therefore, find out Farady himself;
but, goiog first to one friend, and then another, he ascertains,
by putting leading questions, that they are conversant with the
whole transaction ; and, after observing that "it was a most im-
prudent letter," that " it never ought to have been written," he
winds up by asking, "Do you think he could be prevailed upon
to withdraw it Every 'where, however, he is met by the
same answer : "I am sure that Faraday will not withdraw it."
Nor has it been withdrawn; for, though Tom is compelled at
last to open his commission to Faraday in person, the result is
the same. The letter remains a striking monument of whig
liberality to men of science, and'of the honourable and spirited
behaviour of a gentleman who knows when to feel and how to
resent an insult.

It would be a pity to add one word to this plain statement of
facts. Let Lord Melbourne or Mr. Young contradict us if
they dare; and let the people of England judge between the
comparative claims to their respect which are set up by the
tory minister, on the one hand, who bestows pensions kindly
and generously, without the slightest reference to any other
point than the scientific merit of the parties, and the Whig, on
the other, who, with liberality always in hiS mouth, grossly in-
sults the first practical chemist of his day, for no other reason
thin because he chanced to have attracted the notice of Sir
Robert Peel.

Sbon after the occurrence of the incidents described above,
Lady Mary Fox chanced to 'visit Sir James South, on whose
table she saw an instrument that very much excited her curi-
osity. It was a small electrifying machine, with a ticket ap-
pended to 'it, on Which Was inscribed a little history to the
following, effect
The machine in question is the first of which Faraday ever
came in poisession. It stood, wheh he was a ybuth, in an op-
tician's window in Fleet-street, and was offered for sale at the
cost of four and sixpence; yet such was the low' state of Fara-
day's finances, that be could not purchase. Many a day be
came to the' windows to .gaze, and Weilt away again bitterly
lamenting his own poverty, not because it subjected him to
bodily inconveniences, but because it threatened to'exclude him
for ever from the paths of science and usefulness; on Which he
longed to enter. At last, however, by denying himself the
common necessaries of life, Faraday did accumulate four and
sixpence, and he went in all haste to the optician's, and pur-
chased the treasure. In alt the early experiments which laid
the foundation of his future eminence that fOur-and-Sixpence
electrifying machine-was his sole assistant, and the sort esti-
matiOtt in which he gradually learned to regard it may be con-
ceived. 'Until he parted with' it, indeed the other day, to his
friend Sir- James South, it was almost constantly in his own
sight; and, if you asked him why, he would probably answer
you thus:—
" I value that machine, sir, not only as a memorial of difficul-
ties met and conquered, but as a means of reproving me, shtMld
I ever be tempted to forget how much I owe to a kind Provi-
dence, which, by securing to me the continued use of my faCtil-
ties, has enabled me to rise from a station so hunible to that
which I now fill."

Lady Mary, as may be supposed, was greatly touched by this
simple tale, and, having heard (as all the world had done) of the
affair between Lord Melbourne and the first practical chemist
of the day, she begged to be put in possession of the facts of the
case. These were, of course, communicated to her, and her re-
mark, on returning Faraday's letter, was this :—" It is just
what it ought to have been; as a man of honour and of merit,
he could not have written otherwise." But the matter did not
rest here, The lady went to Brighton, the whole story was
repeated to the King, including an outline of Faraday's early
struggles with poverty, and the monarch was so affected by the
narrative that he shed tears. "That man deserves all the pen-.
sion that Nel.promised,'" said the King; ''and he shalt have it,'
too." So Lord Melbourne is informed, that, whatever his
lordship's feelings might be, those of William the Fourth. are
the feelings of a gentleman ; and Faraday is, after all; to ac-
cept the pension, not as a gift front the Whig cabinet, but directly
from the King! !•
Members of the mechanics' institutes throughout the king-
dour, what think ye of this? Are this men worthy of. the
support whieh you have heretofore given them? and will that
support he afforded in future ?--Fraxer's Magazine.

A PATRIARCH.—At a dinner giveri on Thursday last by the
wardens of the Proof House, in their hall, at Birmingham, Mr.
Wheeler, the venerable senior warden, said he remembered
well at the time he began business no bank existed in Birming-
ham; and that when Messrs. Taylors and Lloyds opened their
present establishment in Dale-end, great. curiosity was excited
as to what effect a bank would have upon trade. Those who
then wanted change used to go to grocers, or druggists, and
deposited their money for safety with goldsmiths. This was
about seventy years ago. There arc at the present time eight
banks in Birmingham. Who could then have foretold that a
small.place, containing about 22,000 inhabitants, should, during
the lire-time of one individual become the largest and most
populous town-(with the exception of Manchester and Liver-
pool) in England, and acknowledged the metropolis of the mid-
land counties, whose spirited inhabitants have adorned it with
public buildings the glory and boait of the kingdom. The
population of "Birminghorn is now estimated at upwards of
J 50,000; being an increase of 120,000 in about 70 yearo.
Birmingham Adeertiser.
ViI;GAR ERRORS.-1. That when a man designs to marry
a woolen that is in debt, if he take her from the priest clothed
only in her shift he will not he liable to her engagements.-2.
That there was no land-tax before the reign of •William 111.-
3. That if a criminal is hanged an hour and revives, he cannot
he executed.-4. That a funeral passing over any place makes
it a public highway.-5. That a husband has the power of di-
vorcing his wire, by selling her in open market with a halter
round .her neck.-6. That a second cousin may not marry.
though filet cousins may.-7. That it is necessary in some legal
processes to go through a fiction of arresting him, which'is done
by placing a riband across the road, as if to impede his 'car=
riawe.—'B. That the lord of the manor may shoot over all the
laude within his ruanor.-9. That pounds of butter may be of
any number of ounces.-10. That hull beef should not be sold
unless -the bull bad been haikd previously to being killed.-
11. That leasf% are made for 999'vears because 'a leaie of a
thousand,yeais would create a. freehold.-12. - That deeds ex&
cot,d on a Sunday are void.--11. That in order to disinherit
an heir-at-law it is necessary to give him a shilling by the will,
for that otherwise he would be entitled to the whole property:—
Stationer's'A lmanack, Family and Parochial.