£500, and some regard this fact as explaining in part the peculiarities of his character; for during this period he acquired those habits of economy and those singular oddities of character which he ever afterward exhibited in so striking a manner. For some years Cavendish was allowed by his father to attend the Royal Society Club regularly, but was given the exact five shillings for the dinner, not a penny more. There is reason to believe that his father's parsimony has been misapprehended, for while Cuvier, Biot and Lord Brougham make dissatisfaction with Henry for not entering on public or political life the ground for his illiberality towards him, yet others assert that Lord Charles Cavendish was not a rich man and allowed his son all he could afford. There is no certainty as to when or from what source Cavendish inherited the riches which ultimately came into his possession, though they were probably a legacy from a rich uncle. All the testimony, however, is at one on two cardinal facts: that Cavendish was for the first forty years of his life a poor man, and for the last thirty-nine an exceedingly wealthy one.
The possession of several hundred thousand pounds did not alter his life in the least; he simply did not know what to do with it, and hence let it alone, allowing it to accumulate till at his death his estate was worth £1,175,000. Cavendish's indifference to pecuniary affairs was so great that when his banker called on him with regard to the investment of a portion of the vast sum that had grown on his hands, he was rudely ordered to be gone and not to come there to plague him, or he would lose the control of the funds. It may seem strange that none of this large fortune was devoted to scientific or charitable purposes, but we must remember that Cavendish never thought of himself, much less of others. Sir Humphry Davy was indebted to him for 'some bits of platinum,' but tacitly appealed in vain for financial aid in his electrical researches. Just before the subscription for the enlarged voltaic battery was taken. Cavendish was in Davy's apartments at the Royal Institution, and upon Davy expressing fear that he should fail to secure the necessary amount. Cavendish joined heartily in deploring the lack of liberality in the patrons of science, but did not seem to consider himself at all called upon actively to forward the desired object. Yet had he been directly asked to sign a cheque in Sir Humphry's name for £500 he would probably have done so at once. When reminded of some needy charitable object, he gave liberally, but he never himself saw a need. Whether from original or acquired indifference, he exhibited a passive selfishness in all his dealings.
To his town residence, close to the British Museum, few visitors were admitted, and these have reported it to contain only books and apparatus. For the former he also set aside a separate mansion on Bradford Square, and here collected a large and carefully chosen library
