302 William Rowan Hamilton. 
before the great analyst revealed it. In vindication of the just- 
ness of these remarks on the expansiveness of great intellects, 
and on the poetic power which almost invariably is, at the least, 
latent within them, we cannot refrain from quoting the following 
sonnet, written by a great Astronomer, on the occasion of a visit 
to Ely Cathedral, in company with Sir William Hamilton :— 
Sunday, July 29, 1845, 
The organ’s swell was hushed,—but soft and low 
An echo more than musie rang,—where he 
The doubly-gifted, poured forth whisp’ringl 
High-wrought and rich, his heart’ berant 
Beneath that vast and vaulted canopy. 
Plunging anon into the fathomless sea 
Of thought, he dived where rarer treasures grow, 
Gems of an unsunned warmth, and deeper glow. 
y, 
ow, 
Oh! born for either sphere, whose soul can thrill 
With all that Poesy has soft or bright, 
Or wield the sceptre of the sage at will, 
(That mighty mace’ which bursts its way to light), 
as thou wilt, or plunge,—thy ardent mind 
on—but cannot leave our love behind. 
ere a man 
disguise, though too diffident to obtrude, his profound conviction 
of the truth of revealed religion. Endued with such qualities 
as these, what wonder, if of his friends he was almost the idol, 
and of his university the pride; for he was gentle, and he was 
eloquent, and he spoke evil of no man, he defended the fair fame 
of the absent, and he held controversy with none. : 
uch then is an imperfect but unexaggerated sketch of this 
remarkable man. We will only add, that happily he did not 
ive to survive himself, but in full possession of his faculties, 
almost in the very presence of the friends who had long admire 
him; and, what was no new thing to him, supported by the con- 
victions and consolations of his faith, he resigned himself to his 
rest, as one who knew that he had done a work which had been 
given him to do. re te 
eR be ly s Leek tol al : + J lent individual (Si W.R.H) 
su ; addressed has ed hi le t consu' ry ae ( Essays 
by Bir Jokn Herschel. mas : 
“In the preparation of this éloge, the writer ‘has received much assistance from 
Dean Graves, P.R.LA.; the Rev. R. P. Graves, of Dublin; and Professors De Mor- 
gan and Cayley. . 
T The eembalt 
rT 
] 
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