OHAP. VII.] BACHELOR-SCHOLAR. 201 



Meanwhile in his recreations he was as boyishly 

 agile as ever, and his feats in bathing and gymnastics, 

 though cautiously reported by him, somewhat alarmed 

 his father, whose own health now showed signs of 

 breaking. 



His friendships went on multiplying. To the list 

 already given must now be added in particular the 

 names of Hort, V. Lushington, Pomeroy, and Cecil 

 Monro. And his constant observation of character 

 was gaining in fulness and precision. A letter to his 

 father of 21st April 1855, besides referring to a pupil 

 (Platt) who had gained a Trinity scholarship, contains 

 a graphic delineation of several of his coevals w T ho 

 were going in for the first open competition for ap- 

 pointments in the Indian Civil Service. He confides 

 to his father all his thoughts about them, in which 

 speculative and personal interests are combined. 



He had soon another outlet for this kind of sym- 

 pathy. The children of his uncle, Mr. E. Dundas 

 Cay, who had lately returned from Hong-Kong, were 

 advancing in their education, and two of the boys, 

 William and Charles, showed considerable promise in 

 mathematics. He had spent some days with his 

 cousins in the summer vacation of 1854 at Keswick, 

 where there was also a Cambridge reading party under 

 Mathison, the tutor of Trinity. After a joyous time 

 with them he walked home to Galloway from Carlisle, 

 and it was during this walk that he thought out 

 certain improvements in his dynamical top. He 

 took a continuous interest in the progress of his 

 cousins, and prepared a special set of problems for 



