The good-humoured
nobleman at first considered the matter a capital joke; but he was
afterwards led to look at it more seriously. An excellent lady,
who was a friend both to Faraday and the Minister, tried to arrange
matters between them; but she found Faraday very difficult to move
from the position he had assumed. After many fruitless efforts,
she at length begged of him to state what he would require of Lord
Melbourne to induce him to change his mind. He replied, 'I should
require from his Lordship what I have no right or reason to expect
that he would grant--a written apology for the words he permitted
himself to use to me.' The required apology came, frank and full,
creditable, I thought, alike to the Prime Minister and the
philosopher.
Considering the enormous strain imposed on Faraday's intellect, the
boy-like buoyancy even of his later years was astonishing. He was
often prostrate, but he had immense resiliency, which he brought
into action by getting away from London whenever his health failed.
I have already indicated the thoughts which filled his mind during
the evening of his life. He brooded on magnetic media and lines of
force; and the great object of the last investigation he ever
undertook was the decision of the question whether magnetic force
requires time for its propagation. How he proposed to attack this
subject we may never know. But he has left some beautiful apparatus
behind; delicate wheels and pinions, and associated mirrors, which
were to have been employed in the investigation.
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