He chose the latter, and died a poor man. But his was the glory of holding aloft among the nations the scientific name England for a period of forty years.
The outward and visible signs of fame were also of less account to him than to most men. He had been loaded with scientific honours from all parts of the world. Without, I imagine, a dissentient voice, he was regarded as the prince of the physical investigators of the present age. The highest scientific position in this country he had, however, never filled. When the late excellent and lamented Lord Wrottesley resigned the presidency of the Royal Society, a deputation from the council, consisting of his lordship, Mr. Grove, and Mr. Gassiot, waited upon Faraday, to urge him to accept the president's chair. All that argument or friendly persuasion could do was done to induce him to yield to the wishes of the council, which was also the unanimous wish of scientific men. A knowledge of the quickness of his own nature had induced in Faraday the habit of requiring an interval of reflection, before he decided upon any question of importance. In the present instance he followed his usual habit, and begged for a little time.
On the following morning, I went up to his room, and said on entering that I had come to him with some anxiety of mind. He demanded its cause, and I responded "lest you should have decided against the wishes of the deputation that waited on you yesterday." "You would not urge me to undertake this responsibility," he said. "I not only urge you," was my reply, "but I consider it your bounden duty to accept it." He spoke of the labour that it would involve; urged that it was not in his nature to take things easy; and that if he became president, he would surely have to stir many new questions, and agitate for some changes. I said that in such cases he would find himself supported by the youth and strength of the royal society. This, however, did not seem to satisfy him. Mrs. Faraday came into the room, and he appealed to her. Her decision was adverse, and I deprecated her decision. " Tyndall," he said at length, "I must remain plain Michael Faraday to the last; and let me now tell you, that if I accepted the honour which the royal society desires to confer upon me, I would not answer for the integrity of my intellect for a single year." I urged him no more, and Lord Wrottesley had a most worthy successor in Sir Benjamin Brodie.
