36 JAMES CLERK MAXWELL. [CHAP. II. 



ment either of form or colour had always a fascina- 

 tion for him. Besides his mother's knitting, already 

 mentioned, his Aunt Jane's Berlin-wool work, and her 

 landscape drawings, early set him inventing curious 

 patterns and harmonising colours. And there were 

 two other frequent visitants at Glenlair, whom it is 

 now time formally to introduce. These were Mr. 

 Clerk Maxwell's sister Isabella, the widow of James 

 Wedderburn, Esq., at one time Solicitor-General for 

 Scotland, and her daughter Jemima, who was still a 

 young girl, though somewhat older than her cousin. 



Mrs. Wedderburn had been an ornament of Edin- 

 burgh society in the days of her youth, combining 

 beauty of an elegant and piquant kind with great 

 sprightliness and originality, and the staunchest 

 loyalty to her kin. In spite of her early widowhood 

 and of some long illnesses, she retained much of her 

 spirit, together with her erect, lightsome figure, to the 

 last, and danced a reel at James's wedding with the 

 utmost sprightliness though at the age of seventy. 

 Her daughter, now Mrs. Hugh Blackburn, was only 

 eight years older than her cousin James ; but her rare 

 genius for pictorial delineation, especially of animals, 

 was already manifest. It is obvious how this com- 

 panionship of genius must have influenced the child's 

 indoor pursuits. 



A scientific toy had recently come into vogue, an 

 improvement on the thaumatrope, called variously 

 by the names " phenakistoscope," " stroboscope," or 

 " magic disc." Instead of turning on its diameter, as 

 in the thaumatrope, it was made to revolve on a 



