Faraday to John Barlow   28 March 1845

31 Kings Road | Brighton | 28 Mar 1845

My dear Barlow

I know that I should enjoy Lathams1 lectures and I cannot for a moment doubt that they would add character to the Institution in the eyes of men of mind and be attended by several of them, but it is very doubtful whether our general audience would care for them and I feel that if given Dr. Latham must be prepared to be content with his own conviction of the importance & beauty of such investigations and the praise of the few2[.] This indeed ought to satisfy any true philosopher as a lover of learning but we cannot help the interference altogether of our vanity.

As to their fitness this season for the Institution I really cannot remember the dates so as to know how they would fall in with the arrangements already made - probably with difficulty. You must judge of that as also of the times[.] This would do us credit but as to money returns little is to be expected[.]

Ever Truly Yours | M. Faraday

Revd. John Barlow MA | &c &c &c

1
Robert Gordon Latham (1812-1888, DNB). Professor of English Language and Literature at University College London, 1839-1845.
2
Latham did not give a series of lectures at the Royal Institution, though he had given a Friday Evening Discourse on 28 February 1845 "On the origin of the American races". For an account of this see Lit.Gaz., 8 March 1845, p.153.

Please cite as “Faraday1705,” in Ɛpsilon: The Michael Faraday Collection accessed on 28 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/faraday/letters/Faraday1705