Faraday to Henry Cole   24 December 1864

Royal Institution | 24 Decr. 1864

My dear Sir

I have just returned from Brighton to which place my doctors had sent me under nursing care: hence the delay in answering your letter1 for I was unaware of it till my return. Now as to my acceptance of the honor you propose to me. With my rapidly failing faculties ought I to accept it? You shall decide[.] Remember that I was obliged to decline lecturing before Her Majesty and the Royal family at Osborne:- that I have declined and am declining the presidency of the Royal Society2 the Royal Institution3 and other bodies; declaring myself unfit to undertake any responsibility or duty even in the smallest degree. Would it not therefore be inconsistent to allow my name to appear amongst those of the effectual men who delight as I should have done under other circumstances to honor in every way the memory of our most gracious & regretted leader. These are my difficulties. It is only the name and the remembrance of His Royal Highness which would have moved me from a long taken resolution[.]

I am | My dear Sir | Very faithfully Yours | M. Faraday

Henry Cole Esqr CB | &c &c &c

2
Lyell to Bunbury, May 1848 in Lyell (1881), 2: 145-6 and introduction to volume 3, p.xxxix; and Percy to Faraday, 20 May 1858 and Faraday to Percy, 21 May 1858, letters 3442 and 3443, volume 5 and introduction, pp.xxxvi-xxxvii.
3
See letters 4462 and 4467.

Bibliography

LYELL, Charles (1881): Life, Letters and Journals of Sir Charles Lyell, 2 volumes, London.

Please cite as “Faraday4515,” in Ɛpsilon: The Michael Faraday Collection accessed on 27 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/faraday/letters/Faraday4515