Volume 1

Life of Sir Roderick I. Murchison, bart.; K.C.B., F.R.S.; sometime director-general of the Geological survey of the United kingdom / based on his journals and letters ; with notices of his scientific contemporaries and a sketch of the rise and growth of palaeozoic geology in Britain, by Archibald Geikie.

Archibald Geikie

Date:: 1875

Credit: Life of Sir Roderick I. Murchison, bart.; K.C.B., F.R.S.; sometime director-general of the Geological survey of the United kingdom / based on his journals and letters ; with notices of his scientific contemporaries and a sketch of the rise and growth of palaeozoic geology in Britain, by Archibald Geikie. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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74/432 page 52

Murat suddenly appeared. The young British brigadier re- solved not to flee, like most of his fellow-countrymen, but to trust to the effects of a bold bearing upon the generous and susceptible mind of Murat. On the evening of the French entry into Rome, a Princess, with whom Mackenzie was acquainted, gave a grand ball, at which he was an- nounced in full uniform as “The English General.” Taking no notice of the French officers, who looked at each other in astonishment, he saluted the hostess, and had entered into conversation with her, when at last Murat, recovering from his surprise, tapped him on the shoulder, and begged for some explanation. Mackenzie easily satisfied him that he was what he pretended to be,—a young British officer, “fond of pictures, pretty women, and amusement; and that as he was simply amusing himself and learning Italian, he thought he had better trust to the generosity of a brave General-in- Chief than be captured by troops and treated as a spy.” Murat not only granted him leave to stay in Rome, but gave him a passport to travel where he pleased, and formed a friendship which was now renewed even in the midst of actual war. As a further reminiscence of this friendship, his nephew writes,—“ When the General [Mackenzie] visited Paris at the peace of Amiens, he found in Murat a most useful and kind friend, who presented him to the First Consul, with whom he dined. It was my uncle’s habit to eat slowly, and in short to dine like a gentleman, in conversing with his neighbours. Massena, who was next him, said,— ‘ Dépéchez-vous, mon Général—le diner sera bientét fini et vous n’aurez rien & manger. Such was Bonaparte’s rapid and voracious mode of feeding (no wonder he died of a

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