CHAP. XII.] PERSONAL TRAITS. 369 



particular tune discernible, but a sort of running accompani- 

 ment to his inward thoughts. ... He could carry the full 

 strength of his mental faculties rapidly from one subject to 

 another, and could pursue his studies under distractions 

 which most students would find intolerable, such as a loud 

 conversation in the room where he was at work. On these 

 occasions he used, in a manner, to take his dog into his con- 

 fidence, and would say softly, "Tobi, Tobi," at intervals, and 

 after thinking and working for a time, would at last say (for 

 example), " It must be so : Plato (i.e. Plateau), thou reasonest 

 well." He would then join in the conversation. 



. . . His acquaintance with the literature of his own 

 country, and especially with English poetry, was remarkable 

 alike for its extent, its exactness, and the wide range of his 

 sympathies. His critical taste, founded as it was on his 

 native sagacity, and a keen appreciation of literary beauty, 

 was so true and discriminating that his judgment was, in 

 such matters, quite as valuable as on mathematical writings. 

 ... As he read with great rapidity, and had a retentive 

 memory, his mind was stored with many a choice fragment 

 which had caught his fancy. He was fond of reading aloud 

 at home from his favourite authors, particularly from Shak- 

 speare, and of repeating such passages as gave him the 

 greatest pleasure. 1 



Maxwell was rarely seen walking without a dog 

 accompanying him, and, when visiting the Laboratory 

 for a short time, Toby or Coonie, or both, would always 

 attend him. Toby (II. or III.) came to Cambridge with 

 Professor Maxwell in 1871, and was thoroughly con- 

 versant with the details of the Laboratory and some of 



1 There was found amongst his papers a scrap on which he had 

 written, in pencil, the whole of Shelley's " Ode to the West Wind," in 

 all probability from memory, and as a distraction from anxiety or from 

 severer study. His note-books, one of which he always carried with 

 him, are full of the most miscellaneous jottings, plans of works, solu- 

 tions of problems, extracts in prose and verse, etc. 



2 B 



