CHAP. VIII.] ESSAYS AT CAMBRIDGE. 223 



CHAPTER VIII. 



ESSAYS AT CAMBRIDGE 1853 TO 1856. 



THE description of Maxwell's life at Cambridge would 

 be incomplete without some notice of the Essays 

 written by him from time to time for the "Apostles' " 

 Club. These range from the spring of 1853 to the 

 summer of 1856. Thrown off, as such things are, 

 in irresponsible gaiety of heart, mere "gardens of 

 Adonis," as Plato would call them, they contain real 

 indications of the writer's speculative tendencies, and 

 are most characteristic of the activity and fulness of 

 his mind, of his ironical humour, and of his provoking 

 discursiveness and indirectness of expression. He is 

 not " upon his oath," and often throws out tentatively 

 a whole train of arguments or ideas. 



1. "Decision:' Written in February 1853. 



After a humorous sketch of the distraction arising from ^. 21. 

 the different associations of term and vacation time, the 

 question is raised whether on the whole a learned education 

 is unfavourable to decision of character and opinion. The 

 answer pointed at, though not distinctly given, is that 

 high education may often unsettle opinion, but ought to 

 strengthen character. It must suffice here to quote a few 

 of the most characteristic passages : 



"... In this charitable (holiday) frame of mind, we 



