CHAP. XIII.] CONCLUDING REMARKS. 425 



then taken home to Glenlair, and buried in Parton 

 Churchyard, the funeral being attended by numbers 

 of his countrymen from far and near. 



In these reminiscences I have purposely abstained 

 as much as possible from comment. But in conclud- 

 ing this portion of the present work, I may be per- 

 mitted to record a very few general observations or 

 impressions. 



The leading note of Maxwell's character is a grand 

 simplicity. But in attempting to analyse it we find 

 a complex of qualities which exist separately in 

 smaller men. Extraordinary gentleness is combined 

 with keen penetration, wonderful activity with a no 

 less wonderful repose, personal humility and modesty 

 with intellectual scorn. His deep reserve in common 

 intercourse was commensurate with the fulness of his 

 occasional outpourings to those he loved. His tender- 

 ness for all living things was deep and instinctive ; 

 from earliest childhood he could not hurt a fly. Not 

 less instinctive was the sense of equality amongst all 

 human beings, which underlay the plainness of his 

 address. But, on the other hand, his respect for the 

 actual order of the world and for the wisdom of the 

 past, was at least as steadfast as his faith in progress. 

 While fearless in speculation, he was strongly con- 

 servative in practice. 



In his intellectual faculties there was also a 

 balance of powers which are often opposed. His 

 imagination was in the highest sense concrete, grasp- 

 ing the actual reality, and not only the relations 



