CHAP. VI.] AT PETERHOUSE, CAMBRIDGE. 147 



percha, and unannealed glass, his bits of magnetised 

 steel, and other objects, which were apt to appear to 

 the uninitiated as " matter in the wrong place." 

 And this in the home of science ! Nor were his 

 experiments facilitated by the casual " dropping -in " 

 of the average undergraduate. 



His boyish spirits and his social temper, together 

 with the novelty of the scene, and a deep-rooted pre- 

 sentiment of the possibilities of Cambridge, no doubt 

 made even his first term a happy one. But there 

 was an undercurrent of restlessness and misgiving. 

 And this made him lend a readier ear to the advice 

 which was pressed upon him from various quarters, 

 that he should migrate to Trinity. 



The ground of this advice was simply that from 

 the large proportion of high wranglers at Peterhouse, 

 and the smallness of the foundation, the chances of a 

 fellowship there for a mathematical man were less 

 than at Trinity College. And this was the reason 

 which, together with his son's evident wish, most 

 weighed with Mr. Clerk Maxwell. He was also 

 struck with the fact that " Porter senior," who about 

 this time became Maxwell's private tutor, recom- 

 mended the change, although he himself belonged to 

 Peterhouse. But the friend whose counsel in this 

 whole matter was most prized both by father and son 

 was Charles Mackenzie, of whom one who was his 

 colleague at Caius has said that he was " the best of 

 all men whom he had known." 



On Maxwell's own mind, it need hardly be said, 

 the prospect of a fellowship had little or no influence, 



