284 JAMES CLERK MAXWELL. [CHAP. X. 



To THE SAME. 



Lauriston Lodge, 

 Edinburgh, 25th October 1857. 



* . . As to collecting memorials, that is a thing to do 

 faithfully if at all. No man can write himself down wholly at 

 once, so no one thing will give a complete autograph of the 

 man. As for anecdotes, they are to be tolerated as the 

 roughest way of giving to the public sketches of public men ; 

 but they will satisfy no private friend, not even him from 

 whose memory they are drawn. 



But if any essays (I know some that were not read 

 aloud to any particular people, but were written by himself 

 for himself) or anything else of his are to be had, they 

 might be given to Mrs. Pomeroy with what explanation we 

 could give, and so (not hastily but) when times occur, she might 

 continue to learn more of him and his honestly fought and 

 thoroughly conquered and well secured path through a land 

 of shadows, where friends and foes seemed to exchange 

 appearances, so that honesty and sincerity had parted with 

 order and reverence, and indecision had passed for conscien- 

 tiousness, and enquiry after truth had been taken for 

 infidelity. A sad world to seek for truth in under any 

 man's guiding. The exact point at which this progress has 

 been interrupted may be disputed by men, but they have no 

 jurisdiction, and are ignorant even of their own true faith 

 till something bring it into action. 



I could not conceive of any one undertaking to write a 

 memoir. I am fully satisfied of the impossibility of that, 

 with respect to any young man. The journal of voyage, 

 which was meant to be read, is far the best memorial, and it 

 is a very good one indeed for his mother and friends, for it 

 is so wonderfully open-hearted and unaffected. I appreciate 

 these qualities on account of the force which it requires for 

 me to say or do anything according to nature, especially in 

 ordinary circumstances. 



This spring I read a great deal of MS. at home, which 

 gave me much light about my father and his dealings with 

 various people. There were journals of travels and adven- 



