Page:A Life of Matthew Fontaine Maury.pdf/271

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MAURY TESTIMONIAL.
257

CHAPTER XVI.

In England, 1866-68.

Maury's arrival in England—Meeting with his family—The Maury testimonial—Instructing French officers in defensive sea-mining at Paris—Maury's Electrical Torpedo School—Defence of Wurtemberg by electrical mines—Maury's memorandum on the use of electrical torpedoes—Writing class-books on geography—Visits to Nottingham and to Wrottesley Hall—Arrival of his daughter, Mrs. Corbin—Maury's love for his grandchild—He joins the Church and is confirmed with his children—Made LL.D. at Cambridge—Accepts appointment as Professor at the Virginia Military Institute—Returns to America—Occupations at Richmond.

Maury arrived in England—from Mexico—on the 29th of March, 1866. His wife and children had come from Birkenhead to meet him in London, and they were once more united at No. 30, Harley Street. But Maury was so completely altered by the sorrows, hardships, and anxieties of the years of separation, that none of his children knew him. His youngest daughter exclaimed when, he entered his wife's room—"This is not my papa! This is an old man with a white beard!" He had lost all his property in the States, and the failure of a banker caused him the further loss of all the money he had brought from Mexico.

The services of the great hydrographer to mankind were not, however, forgotten by his friends and his numerous admirers in Europe. A "Maury Testimonial" had been set on foot, and subscriptions to it were actively promoted by Commodore Jansen and by Dr. Tremlett, who visited