Faraday to Karl Friedrich Philipp von Martius   14 September 1832¹

London | Royal Institution | Sept 14th 1832.

Sir

I received a letter from my friend Mr Magrath in which he asks me certain questions about certain characters in Sir H. Davys Consolations in Travel² and wishes me to answer them in a letter to you[.]

That I might answer more correctly I have applied to some very old & dear friends of the late Sir H. Davys and amongst them one who has always been supposed to be one of the personified and now send you the result[.]

Sir H. Davys work is by no means understood here as describing real events or depicting real personages. Those who best knew Sir H. Davys friends although they here & there perceive resemblances of certain persons in the characters he has drawn immediately lose these resemblances & find other points in the characters quite inconsistent with the former if supposed to apply to real personages.

Again also as regards the precipitation down the falls of the Traun such an event is not known ever to have happened to Sir H. Davy³[.] His friends do not know of it & persons who have since visited the spot have not heard of it from the fishermen or others there[.]

The whole book as I gather from those I have spoken to is rather to be considered as a conception or composition than as a detail of real circumstances although occasionally the latter may here & there be introduced[.]

I am | Sir | Your Very faithful Servant | M. Faraday

Professor Martius | &c &c &c

Address: The Professor | Martius | Munich