12 JAMES CLERK MAXWELL. [CHAP. I. 



once detect something of the difference between the 

 father and the son. In the one there is a grave and 

 placid acquiescence in the nearer environment, the 

 very opposite of enthusiasm or mysticism; in the 

 other, the artist has succeeded in catching the un- 

 earthly look which often returned to the deep -set 

 eyes under the vaulted brow, when they had just 

 before been sparkling with fun, the look as of one 

 who has heard the concert of the morning stars and 

 the shouting of the Sons of God. 



James himself has said to me that to have had a 

 wise and good parent is a great stay in life, and that 

 no man knows how much in him is due to his pro- 

 genitors. And yet the speculative ideal element 

 which was so strong in him the struggle towards 

 the infinite through the finite was not prominent in 

 either of his parents. Mrs. Clerk Maxwell was, no 

 doubt, a good and pious (not bigoted) Episcopalian ; 

 but, from all that appears, her chief bent, like that of 

 her husband, must have been practical and matter-of- 

 fact. Her practicality, however, was different from his. 

 She was of a strong and resolute nature, as prompt 

 as he was cautious and considerate, more peremptory, 

 but less easily perturbed. Of gentle birth and breed- 

 ing, she had no fine-ladyisms, but with blunt deter- 

 mination entered heart and soul into that rustic life. 

 It is told of her that when some men had been badly 

 hurt in blasting at a quarry on the estate, she person- 

 ally attended to their wounds before a surgeon could 

 be brought, and generally that wherever help was 

 needed she was full of courage and resource. She 



