Faraday to William Buchanan   17 May 1848

Royal Institution | 17 May 1848

My dear Friend

I sympathize with you very deeply in the trouble and anxiety you must feel on your Son George's¹ account but I hope you will never hesitate to use me in such or any matters in which you may consider that my judgment or ability may be useful. Such a case as the present is no doubt difficult because without knowing intimately the mind of the parties it is impossible to tell how far one may go without removing that pressure of circumstances which is the lesson the individual brings upon himself[.] I wrote to Mr. George on Monday² extracting two or three passages from your letter to me. I said also that I most fully agreed with these passages & earnestly exhorted him to put himself right with you and all his & your friends by taking a decided & correct course of action. I preferred doing this by writing that he might reconsider & reflect on the words. It brought him in to us immediately. I could not find that he had made any progress in procuring employment but found that he was now almost hopeless of it. He said that he ought perhaps under these circumstances to return to Edinburgh next Saturday³ if he did not hear of employment before then and I expect to hear from him in a day or two with a view to such return. He asked me also whether he ought to call on Sir William Burnett⁴ but on that point I could give him no opinion not knowing what you would wish. I only told him that if I had fallen into his position and thought of doing so I would have told Sir W. Burnett all the circumstances being quite sure that perfect candour would have far more effect that the appearance of an unexplained condition. Mr. George seemed very well in health. He does not himself open out the circumstances of his case to me so that I had no opportunity of judging of the nature & direction of his mind and feel that when speaking to him as if I were a good deal in the dark. I hope dear Brother that this trouble will soon be over and that the experience gained by Mr. George will be of such value to him during the whole course of his life as to compensate for the present unhappy moment[.]

Give our kind love & sympathy to Mrs. Buchanan and Mrs. Cullen⁵. We have thought a great deal of you all during these things[.]

Ever My dear Friend | Affectionately Yours | M. Faraday

Wm. Buchanan | &c &c &c