Faraday to James Clark1   7 February 1863

Royal Institution: | February 7, 1863.

My dear Sir James, - Her Majesty our Queen has done me great honour (and a favour most especially welcome) in thinking of me in relation to our most worthy and glorious Prince, his late Royal Highness the Prince Consort. I do not know how to thank Her Majesty enough or well2 - may I hope that you will help me? I would, if I might, express my reverence for the Queen, the wife and the mother whose image dwells in the hearts of all her people. I wish that I were, as a subject, more worthy of her; but the vessel wears out, and at seventy-one has but little promise for the future. The fifty years of use in the Royal Institution has given me wonderful advantages in learning, many friends, and many opportunities of making my gratitude known to them; but they have taken the matter of life, and above all, memory out of me, leaving the mere residue of the man that has been, and now I remain in the house useless as to further exertion, excused from all duty, very content and happy in my mind, clothed with kindness by all, and honoured by my Queen.

Ever, my dear Sir James, your most faithful servant, | M. Faraday

James Clark (1788–1870, ODNB). Court physician. Member of the Senate of the University of London, 1838–1865. Influential in establishing the Royal College of Chemistry.
For a copy of Helps (1862). See letter 4293.

Bibliography

HELPS, Arthur (editor) (1862): The Principal Speeches and Addresses … of the Prince Consort. With an introduction giving some outlines of his character, London.

Please cite as “Faraday4302,” in Ɛpsilon: The Michael Faraday Collection accessed on 28 March 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/faraday/letters/Faraday4302