The following pages were originally intended for the perusal only
of my own family and immediate friends. Some of these now persuade
me to lay them before the public, believing that, to it, a detail
of circumstances connected, as my Journal necessarily is, with the
last recreations and pursuits of the late Sir Humphry Davy, must be
interesting. To have been in any degree a partaker of the hours of
this great man, whose name must shed a lustre over his native land, so
long as genius and science shall be admired, I cannot be supposed to
imagine otherwise than highly gratifying; and aware that my Journal
through him bears an interest it could not otherwise pretend to, I do
not hesitate to comply with their request.
The state of Sir Humphry's health inducing him to seek its restoration
in a tour on the Continent, he wrote to my mother, who was residing
on my account and that of my brothers at Heidelberg, stating his plan
to her, and naming his wish to have a son of his "warmly-loved and
sincerely-lamented friend," as the assistant and companion of his
journey. My mother did not hesitate to suspend my studies during the
period of the proposed tour, conscious that in the society of such a
mind and acquirements as those of Sir Humphry, mine must advance. And
to have been the companion of his latter days, clouded as they often
were by the sufferings which I beheld him endure, will be my last
pride and advantage; and though the hand of death has laid low many a
hope which gilded the future, it cannot deprive me of the recollection
of those hours, when I marked his spirit still radiant and glowing (to
use his own words)
"With the undying energy of strength divine."
Sir Humphry's health was in so shattered a state, that it often
rendered his inclinations and feelings sensitive and variable to a
painful degree. Frequently he preferred being left alone at his meals;
and in his rides, or fishing and shooting excursions, to be attended
only by his servant. Sometimes he would pass hours together, when
travelling, without exchanging a word, and often appeared exhausted
by his mental exertions. When he passed through Heidelberg to see my
mother, he named all this to her, and with evident feeling thanked her
for her request, that he would on all occasions consider me as alone
desirous to contribute to his ease and comfort. I mention this to
account for my having so seldom spoken of his passing remarks, and for
any apparent change which occurred in our arrangements, named in the
Journal.
To give any adequate idea of the beauty and grandeur of the scenes I
beheld, must be well known to be impossible by those who have visited
these parts of Europe, or been accustomed to view the changing tints
and hues of the fine sky that encircles them; but if I have imparted
only a faint reflection of the pleasure such scenes bestow, even in
recollection, or have given enjoyment to any of my readers, my object
will be fully attained, nor shall I then regret having listened to the
voice of my perhaps too partial friends.
J. J. T.
_Heidelberg,
March 14, 1831._