Benjamin Abbott to Faraday   25 and 26 December 1814

London, Sunday 25th Decr. 1814

My Dear Michael

Last evening between 5 & 6 O’Clock I was while at dinner most agreeably interrupted by the Postman’s Rap announcing the arrival of your still friendly letter from Rome, 26th & 30th ult.¹ you may judge it was not long unopened nor long unread, nor shall it remain long unanswered. The first page aroused in my mind feelings of every kind but pleasant, ideas of every species but brilliant, and those ideas & feelings would have increased in [word illegible] had not the second informed me you still felt confidence in my friendship may you ever feel so [word illegible] as I feel so in yours; that I may never give cause for you to do otherwise shall be my constant endeavour.

I wrote to you on the 20th ult. & forwarded the Lr etc on the 24th via France². I confidently hope that long ere this it will have reached you & have calmed in some degree the tumult which it grieves me to see my neglect should have tended to raise in your Heart - a tumult which I cannot condemn tho’ I am very sincerely sorry to witness it & feelings which endear you to me though I regret sincerely having so painfully aroused them if by so doing I have occasioned you any uneasiness (which I well know I have) I can only say in extenuation it was unintentionally - This & our friendship are my only pleas - tho’ the latter ought rather to appear against me than in my favor - You will have perceived by my last (if it has arrived) that I refrained from saying much or indeed anything on your uneasiness as expressed in yours of 6th Septr³ because I was fearful lest it might fall into hands where its operation might only tend to increase that uneasiness ... but at this time I shall not suffer that fear to operate & I trust if such a circumstance should occur, you will acquit me of blame & lay the cause where it is truly to be laid; to the warmth of my feeling for your Happiness, a warmth which will not suffer me to be silent on such an occasion.

To say that I know by your letter you are not as you could wish & to say that I am sorry for it, would be alike futile & a waste of words, since the first is a sure action of commonsense, & of the latter I trust you are long ago convinced so fully as to need no arguments to establish your belief. But altho’ I know you are uncomfortable I know not the precise cause of your being so & it will seem I reperuse your sentences & form conjectures almost innumerable as to what it may be. Excuse me my friend for asking information on this subject. I know my power in moralizing & speaking comfort to affliction is very small yet would I fain have ample scope for its action in such case as may come in my way. I therefore request you to inform me the whole & to open your mind to me to confide to my Bosom the causes of those agitations so much disquiet yours & I need not say your confidence will not be abused. I need not say that I ask not for the purpose of idle curiosity but believe me I ask it only that I may participate in the burthen & bear my share of the galling oppressive weight. & I trust you will not deny my request. If any part of it has for its cause me or any word or action of mine let me know it & if written & I hope at a future day expressed concessions can atone I will acquit myself & fully. I am well aware my dear Michael of your strength of mind & of your fortitude but I can still perceive the truth of your observation that you have not yet attained the power of equalizing your feelings - your letter now before me affords me proof of this where you give way to your thoughts concerning your return, & begin to reflect on the past with such painful sensations. I am as I said before very inadequate to say much that will afford you any solace but I may venture to suggest that all things are for the best, & the blows you are now receiving tho’ painful may & I doubt not will ultimately turn to your great advantage. Remember [9 or 10 words illegible] & disappointment are every one’s portion & you & I must not forget that we are not exempt from the common lot of mankind. Your ideas of knowledge as expressed in your letter are in my view true but I would ask you, are they your constant ideas or only dictated by the feelings of the moment? Whatever they may be the view you have taken of the subject is partial & consequently one from which no just conclusion can be drawn. You say “how degrading it is to be learned when it places us on a level with rogues & scoundrels, how disgusting when it serves to shew us the artifices & deceit of all around.” I need not copy more as you doubtless have a transcript; - what? then does learning do this? it does in some degree you will say - but does it nothing more - does it shew you nothing but the degradation of the human mind & further, in what respect does it place you on a level with rogues? because perhaps you have some brilliant talents prostituted to infamous purposes are you hence to judge that all learning has such an effect? & because you have seen a self-taught or rather nature-taught person glide so happily along like a rill among the gnats are you to suppose that ignorance is synonymous with happiness & comfort? If you say yes, them I must say I think your views are altered since I saw you & not only altered but reversed. Am I to refuse to ascend a lofty eminence in order to enjoy the glorious sight of the rising sun

“Ocean & Heaven rejoicing in his Beams”

merely because near its base some offensive manufactory cants its stinking vapors which annoy me in my ascent & at the summit or because some town involved in smoke deprives me of a part of the prospect? You will doubtless despise in such cases the petty inconveniences & will be content to overlook them & what other imperfections may appear so that you can obtain the object of your toils & in like manner my dear friend would I have you regard the vice & deception which knowledge leads you to see in the world not as the effect of learning but as spots & imperfections which only obscure & sully a part of the glorious Horizon which you must be content to [word illegible] if you would wish to embrace all things in your view. I may be wrong but as yet I am not inclined to believe that knowledge ends only in disgust vexation & disappointment, & I am much mistaken if you will not one day think with me. I am certainly at this time inferior to you in acquirements but yet suppose you & I chatting together & then introduce a person ignorant & un-taught. I am not learned nor perhaps are you so much so as one day may see us both, and yet what a figure would such a one cut! What a triumvirate! we should converse, if he has any sense he would listen but could not afford an argument by taking part. If he had none, he would talk, but what would he excite but contempt, or at best Pity! - I have done - I will not say more on this subject. You have my view; let me have yours when you are calm. -

Robert called on us on Wednesday Evening last & informed us that all Friends in Weym. St are well; you will be surprised to hear I have not been there since my L[e]t[ter] of 20th Novr. but I can assure you it has only arisen from Occupation & the very wet weather we have lately had. I called a short time since (about 3 weeks) on Mr. Gray who with his wife & family is in full health & desires their kindest affection may be expressed to you. - I have been placed rather in a dilemma lately, out of which I have been scarcely able to extricate myself fully. You must know that all your L[ette]rs to Weym. St have been shewn to me by your Mother & she has accordingly wished & expected to see mine. The first I shewed her, but the second I did not well knowing it wd only render her uneasy & uncomfortable, I called however immediately on receiving it & acquainted her with it stating you were well & also what you said respecting them. Now it has since appeared she has supposed because I did not shew the Letter that there were some secrets in it. “& what could they be which concerned A & not me.” nothing replied her Fears but that Michl. is not quite comfortable. - When I found this was the case you may judge my Dear Michl. my feelings - what could I do - to shew the Letter would make it worse - I therefore read to your Brother the greater part of it particularly what related to my situation & he engaged to satisfy his Mother that I only kept it to myself because it contained affairs of MINE improper to be divulged - & to tell her he had seen & read the whole. - I therefore hope this incident will not lessen me in her esteem but I thought it proper you should know of it as I wish all my actions towards our Friends should be fully open to you at all time. I trust you will approve of the [word illegible]. <qr>26th Decr.

As to your present communication I shall transcribe such part as relates to your Route &c. &c. & send to Weym. St so abridged as to seem the entire contents & this plan if it meets with your approbation I shall pursue in future, but if you can point out one more reliable I will immediately accede to it with pleasure[.] My only wish is to merit & obtain the Esteem & Friendship of both them & you & to that effect to act with perfect propriety to both with which view I have thus fully stated to you the occurrence & my conduct in it which as I before said and I trust will meet you approbation - should it not, I hope you will not hesitate to say so that I may act otherwise in future.- Concerning Margaret I can only say what I said in my last - I will take the first opportunity of seeing her and informing you of her progress in learning - since the rec[eip]t of yours you are of course aware it has not been possible & I am unwilling to miss the opportunity of Tuesdays mail (tomorrow) by which I shall forward this Sheet for all imperfections in which I ask excuse on the ground of being very busy in the City & somewhat agitated in my feelings on your account.-

I am sorry you should have made the Postage of your letters an object of consideration for a moment. Send them only the surest way. Trust me I shall not grumble at an extra shilling. You perhaps are not aware that it is merely charged here by Countries, thus a French letter is 1/4d an Italian 1/11d etc.- I paid no more for those of yours from Rome than for your last from Geneva - therefore you see it is of little importance the difference is so trifling & so pray never think of the matter more - I expect shortly to have a little bit of News to tell you but it is not yet ripe & I dare not forestall the market it is something which I expect you will be glad to hear.-

Concerning the Royal Institution I wrote you fully in my last to which I have nothing to add but confirmation & an assurance that you may depend on my care.- I shall endeavour ere long to call on Mrs Greenwell & Mr Newman.

I was highly gratified at your account of your Route & still more at the promise of it being continued - & I must tender you my sincere thanks for sacrificing your time for my amusement & can only say in return I will do my Endeavours to return the Obligation by rendering my correspondence as interesting as my circumscribed Horizon will allow - a propos - the word Obligation beings to my recollection the way in which you use it - a way in which I hope I shall not see it again employed in your letters Pray - what obligations are you under to me I am your friend - & the execution of your friendly commissions are only so many pleasures to me. - I thank you for your kind wishes for my Health which is tolerable at present the Winter set in yesterday with a fall of Snow but I have as yet felt no ill effects from it[.] My Father, Mother Brother & Sister are also well & desire their love - Robert I expect will write you shortly.-

I have little Philosophical News to send you - the Lectures at the Surrey Inst⁴: are suspended this Week but resume on 5th Jany. when they are finished I intend giving you my Ideas soi-disant Criticisms on them - You doubtless have heard of the Earthquakes at Lyons & at Palermo - but perhaps not of one which has taken place in Luzon the largest of the Phillipine Islands in the East Indies it was accompanied by an explosion from a Volcano long since apparently extinct so violent as to render it nearly dark for two days! which together with the Earthquake destroyed Five Towns!! Such Scenes as these may you & I never witness! much as I wish to see a Volcano I have no desire to see a town buried in Ashes and Lava!

It seems as if your letter & my last were written by Sympathy. I ask you for your Route you have given me. I enquire concerning cataracts you mention the best in Europe pray are you a Conjurer! I however did not ask because I had never heard of the Fuoco de Pietro Malo which is certainly a singular Phenomenon & I am entirely at a loss how to account for it tho I should suppose it may originate from decomposing vegetable matter.- I imagine I see you in the rain with a bottle under each arm & the peasant with a bundle of lighted straw - (of course wet straw) catching Gas & stirring up the muck with a stick I think what with Gas - Rain & Smoke those must have been a laughable combination - Were I a caricaturist you should have an elegant design of my ideas at the moment. - talking of Gas - the Gas lights get on here like a house on fire - Westminster Hall & all the streets thereabouts are lighted - Westminster Bridge is contracted for - Bishopsgate Street is also lighted i.e. the Shops - & a new company has built an apparatus at the bottom of Dorset Street & is about to light that Street & the Strand[.] Tatum’s Room is to be splendidly illuminated[.] Tatum by the by has had a serious Accident about 10 days ago when preparing some Fulminating Silver for a Society’s Lecture - it by some accident exploded & shattered the containing bottle to pieces which with some pulverised Marble entered his Eye & nearly blinded him he was incapable of lecturing but is now recovering by degrees. - The Society there goes on as usual the London Society has been patronised by a Royal Duke & is like I hear to become permanently established⁵.

I have not opportunity at this time to write much more you must therefore excuse the briefness of this letter & attribute it to my wish not to delay forwarding it - ere long I shall write again (if I be alive & well) & I also expect shortly to hear from you as I suppose my last would reach you about the 14th inst.- I shall go as usual to Weym St. The Inst. Mr Gray, Mr Newman &c & endeavour to fulfil your wishes to the utmost of my power. May every blessing attend you & may you always have cause to feel pleasure in the Friendship of him who subscribes himself

Yours most truly & sincerely | Benj. Abbott.

Fire Side - 9 PM.