Note 6 — Chapter II · YOUNG HUMPHRY’S RESOLVES.

“Davy, it may be remarked, possessed, when a boy, a countenance which, in its natural state, was very far from comely; while his round shoulders, inharmonious voice, and insignificant manner, were calculated to produce anything rather than a favourable impression. In riper years he was what might be called ‘good-looking;’ although, as a wit of the day observed, his aspect certainly was of the ‘bucolic’ character.”—Dr. Paris’ Life of Sir Humphry Davy, p. 33. The Doctor afterwards describes young Davy as an “extraordinary-looking boy.” “His manners were retreating and modest,” says Mr. Poole (one of Davy’s oldest friends), in a letter to Dr. Paris, speaking of Sir Humphry in early life; “he was generally thought naturally graceful, and the upper part of his face was beautiful. When he first lectured at the Royal Institution, the ladies said, ‘Those eyes were made for something besides poring over crucibles.’”—Dr. John Davy’s Life of his Brother, vol. i. p. 136. “I was very young,” Lady Brownrigg says, in a letter to Dr. Davy, “when I first had the pleasure of seeing your highly-gifted brother. We had been invited by Dr. Richardson to go to his cottage at Portrush, to meet the famous Mr. Davy. We arrived a short time before dinner; in passing through a room we saw a youth, as he appeared,” (Davy was twenty-eight years of age at this time) “who had come in from fishing, and who, with a little note-book, was seated in a window-seat, having left a bag, rod, &c. on the ground. He was very intent on this little book, and we passed through unnoticed. When I went into the drawing-room I felt some little awe at this great philosopher, annexing to such a character, at least, the idea of an elderly grave gentleman—not, perhaps, with so large a wig as Dr. Parr, or so sententious a manner as Dr. Johnson—but certainly I never calculated on being introduced to the identical youth, with a little brown head like a boy, that we had seen with his book at the window-seat, and who when I came into the drawing-room was, in the most animated manner, recounting an adventure which had entertained him on the Causeway, and, from his mode of telling it, was causing loud laughing in the whole room.”—Given in the Life of Sir Humphry, by Dr. John Davy, who speaks of the above account as being “very descriptive of the appearance and manner” of his brother “at this time.”