418 JAMES CLERK MAXWELL. [CHAP. XIII. 



The same may probably be said of the influence of Mr. 

 Maurice's writings, which certainly occupied Maxwell at 

 this time. To what extent he was affected by them I do 

 not know ; but the tone in which he used to speak of Mr. 

 Maurice leads me to think that they must have at least given 

 him considerable aid in the adjustment and clearing up of 

 his own beliefs on the highest subjects. 



My intercourse with Maxwell dropped when we both 

 left Cambridge. When I returned in 1872, after an absence 

 of fifteen years, he had lately been installed at the new 

 Cavendish Laboratory, and I had the happiness of looking 

 forward to a renewal of friendship with him. I found him, 

 as was natural, a graver man than of old; but as warm of 

 heart and fresh in mind as ever. Owing to accidental cir- 

 cumstances on both sides, we met seldomer than I had hoped, 

 though certainly there was no diminution of cordiality on the 

 part of either. Strangely enough, it was again to the meet- 

 ings of a small society, in purpose not unlike the former, 

 that I owe most of my impressions of Maxwell in these later 

 years. Though he was often unable to attend its meetings, 

 and could rarely stay for more than an hour, he seemed to 

 find much satisfaction in thus joining in the discussion of 

 speculative questions with a few friends, chiefly middle-aged 

 men, representing among them great diversity of studies, 

 and no less diversity of opinion. The old peculiarities of 

 his manner of speaking remained virtually unchanged. It 

 was still no easy matter to read the course of his thoughts 

 through the humorous veil which they wove for themselves ; 

 and still the obscurity would now and then be lit up by 

 some radiant explosion. 



Perhaps the most noteworthy of Maxwell's characteristics 

 was his absolute independence of mind, an independence 

 unsullied by conceit or consciousness. Preserved by his 

 simplicity and humility from any fondness for barren para- 

 dox, he endeavoured always to see things with his own eyes, 

 without regard to the points of view assumed on one side or 

 another in ordinary controversy : in a word, he was more 

 free from " notionalism " than any one whom I have known. 



