Faraday to T. Huxtable   11 June 18451

Royal Institution: June 11, 1845.

Dear Huxtable, - I intended to have seen you before this, but am somewhat held at home by an invalid friend, so that I have not been able. But I cannot longer refrain from sympathising deeply with your grief in your loss. I heard of it on Friday evening2, and it came on me very suddenly, for I had not thought of such an end, at least as yet. But in life we are in death3, and these things ought never to be altogether away from our thoughts. If occasion serves (otherwise do not trouble yourself), express my sorrow to the members of your family, for though circumstances have made it long since I have seen them, I know that all were and are bound together by the most affectionate ties, and that they will greatly feel this deprivation.

Ever, dear Huxtable yours truly, | M. Faraday

1
A former member of the City Philosophical Society (see James (1992b)) who Faraday knew in the 1810s when he was a medical student. Bence Jones (1870a), 1: 13.
2
That is 6 June 1845.
3
A slight misquotation from the Burial Service of the Book of Common Prayer.

Bibliography

BENCE JONES, Henry (1870a): The Life and Letters of Faraday, 1st edition, 2 volumes, London.

JAMES, Frank A.J.L. (1992b): “Michael Faraday, The City Philosophical Society and the Society of Arts”, Roy. Soc. Arts J. 140: 192-199.

Please cite as “Faraday1747,” in Ɛpsilon: The Michael Faraday Collection accessed on 29 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/faraday/letters/Faraday1747