OF ROBERT LESLIE ELLIS. xix 



lege, and he, published their problems with their own solutions, 

 soon after the Examination. He bore the labour of the Exami- 

 nation better than could have been expected; he was a very 

 pleasant workfellow, being always ready to fill up the intervals 

 of work with that rich and varied conversation which his 

 friends remember so well. Shall I be pardoned if I mention 

 that his fees as Moderator were transferred to Addenbrooke's 

 Hospital ? 



He worked for the Senate-House again in 1845. It is cus- 

 tomary for the Moderator of one year to act as Examiner the 

 next 1 , but he was desirous of escaping the labour, and had 

 declined to serve. There was, however, a difficulty in finding a 

 substitute ; I was myself one of the Moderators and felt anxious 

 that he should serve, which at my earnest entreaty he at length 

 consented to do. It was in this .year that Professor W. Thom- 

 son took his degree ; great expectations had been excited con- 

 cerning him, and I remember Ellis remarking to me with a 

 smile, " You and I are just about fit to mend his pens." He 

 again got through the Examination much better than could have 

 been expected ; in fact, the effort seemed to do him good ; when 

 he had consented to act he said, " I feel all the better for having 

 done something plucky." 



It has already been mentioned that the study of the prin- 

 ciples of Law was very agreeable to him. At this period of his 

 life he de voted ~much time to the study of the Civil Law, and he 

 has left behind him several volumes of notes made in the course 

 of his reading. The only appointment concerning which I ever 

 heard him express any strong wish was that of the Professor- 



1 It may be mentioned, for the benefit of readers not acquainted with Cam- 

 bridge customs, that the distinction between Moderator and Examiner is prac- 

 tically merely this, that the papers of original problems are set wholly by the 

 Moderators. Constitutionally the difference is, that the office of Moderator 

 is an old statutable office, whereas the Examiners were added by Grace of the 

 Senate, in consequence of the increase of the number of candidates for mathema- 

 tical honours. 



