Faraday to Charles Babbage   3 June 1851

Royal Institution | 3 June 1851

My dear Babbage

I have received & heartily thank you for your book¹. I have begun to read it. I dare say if I had seen it before it was in print I should have been amongst those who would have tried to persuade you from publishing it[.] The fact is I grieve that your powerful mind ever had cause to turn itself in such a direction and away as it were from its high vocation & fitting occupation[.] Still I know that we cannot avoid the checks & jars of a naughty world and that at times we are driven from our most direct courses by very unworthy objects under our feet[.]

Ever My dear Babbage | Very Truly Yours | M. Faraday