636 JAMES CLERK MAXWELL. 



Then summon up your grasp of mind, 



Your fancy scientific, 

 Till l sights and sounds with thought combined, 



Become 2 of truth prolific. 



VIII. 



Go to ! prepare your mental bricks, 



Fetch them from every quarter, 

 Firm on the sand your basement fix 



With best sensation mortar. 

 The top 3 shall rise to heaven on high 



Or such an elevation, 

 That the swift whirl with which we fly 



Shall conquer gravitation. 



To THE COMMITTEE OF THE CAYLEY PORTRAIT FUND. 



1874. 



WRETCHED race of men, to space confined ! 

 What honour can ye pay to him, whose mind 

 To that which lies beyond hath penetrated? 

 The symbols he hath formed shall sound his praise, 

 And lead him on through unimagined ways 

 To conquests new, in worlds not yet created. 



First, ye Determinants ! in ordered row 

 And massive column ranged, before him go, 

 To form a phalanx for his safe protection. 

 Ye powers of the n th roots of 1 ! 

 Around his head in ceaseless 4 cycles run, 

 As unembodied spirits of direction. 



And you, ye undevelopable scrolls ! 

 Above the host wave your emblazoned rolls, 

 Ruled for the record of his bright inventions. 

 Ye Cubic surfaces ! by threes and nines 

 Draw round his camp your seven-and-twenty lines 

 The seal of Solomon in three dimensions. 

 v.r. That. 2 v.r. May be. 3 v.r. tower. 4 v.r. endless. 



