422 JAMES CLERK MAXWELL. [CHAP. XIII. 



wonderful peacefulness in suffering had gone far 

 enough to touch many hearts. And it was a deep 

 and widely-spread emotion which found a voice that 

 Sunday in St. Mary's Church, through the mouth of 

 one who had known him when both were scholars of 

 Trinity the Eev. Dr. Butler, the distinguished head- 

 master of Harrow School : 



It is a solemn thing even the least thoughtful is 

 touched by it when a great intellect passes away into the 

 silence, and we see it no more. Such a loss, such a void, is 

 present, I feel certain, to many here to-day. It is not often, 

 even in this great home of thought and knowledge, that so 

 bright a light is extinguished as that which is now mourned 

 by many illustrious mourners, here chiefly, but also far 

 beyond this place. I shall be believed when I say in all 

 simplicity that I wish it had fallen to some more competent 

 tongue to put into words those feelings of reverent affection 

 which are, I am persuaded, uppermost in many hearts on 

 this Sunday. My poor words shall be few, but believe me 

 they come from the heart. You know, brethren, with what 

 an eager pride we follow the fortunes of those whom we 

 have loved and reverenced in our undergraduate days. We 

 may see them but seldom, few letters may pass between us, 

 but their names are never common names. They never 

 become to us only what other men are. When I came up 

 to Trinity twenty-eight years ago, James Clerk Maxwell was 

 just beginning his second year. His position among us I 

 speak in the presence of many who remember that time was 

 unique. He was the one acknowledged man of genius 

 among the undergraduates. We understood even then that, 

 though barely of age, he was in his own line of inquiry not 

 a beginner, but a master. His name was already a familiar 

 name to men of science. If he lived, it was certain that he 

 was one of that small but sacred band to whom it would be 

 given to enlarge the bounds of human knowledge. It was 

 a position which might have turned the head of a smaller 



