We
left London on July 9th, and travelled by Brighton, Dieppe, Rouen, and
Paris to Orleans. At Paris I saw Bouvard, Pouillet, Laplace and
Arago. I had introductions from Mr Peacock, Mr South, Mr Herschel, Dr
Young; and from Professor Sedgwick to an English resident, Mr
Underwood. On the 19th I was established in the house of M. Lagarde,
Protestant Minister. Here I received my pupils. On the 28th I
commenced Italian with an Italian master: perhaps I might have done
more prudently in adhering to French, for I made no great progress. On
Aug. 2nd I saw a murderer guillotined in the Place Martroi. The
principal investigations on my quires are--Investigations about
pendulums, Calculus of Variations, Notes for the Figure of the Earth
(Encyc. Metrop.) and commencement of the article, steam-engine
machinery, &c. I picked up various French ballads, read various books,
got copies of the Marseillaise (this I was obliged to obtain rather
secretly, as the legitimist power under Charles X. was then at its
height) and other music, and particulars of farm wages for Whewell and
R. Jones. The summer was intensely hot, and I believe that the heat
and the work in Dolcoath had weakened me a good deal. The family was
the old clergyman, his wife, his daughter, and finally his son.
Pages:
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123