1873 CAMBEIDGE 7 



said to him : ' Above all, Eomanes, cultivate the habit 

 of meditation,' and Mr. Eomanes always quoted this 

 as a most valuable bit of advice. His intellectual 

 development was rapid in these Cambridge years, and 

 it is not improbable that his slowly growing mind had 

 not been ill served by being allowed to mature in 

 absolute freedom, although he himself bitterly re- 

 gretted and, through his whole Hfe, deplored the lack 

 of early training, and of mental discipline. 



Through these early Cambridge years he still 

 cherished the idea of Holy Orders, and with his friend, 

 Mr. Cautley, he had many talks about the career they 

 both intended to choose. They spent a part of one long 

 vacation together, and occupied themselves in reading 

 theology — such books as 'Pearson on the Creed,' 

 Hooker's ' Ecclesiastical Polit}-,' Bishop Butler's 

 ' Analogy,' and in writing sermons. Some of Mr. 

 Eomanes' are still extant, and are curious bits of 

 boyish composition — crude, unformed in style, and 

 yet full of thought, and showing a remarkable know- 

 ledge of the Bible. 



He seems to have been, for the rest, a bright, good- 

 tpmpered, popular lad, always much chaffed for absent- 

 minded mistakes, for his long legs, for his pecuhar 

 name ; and he certainly gave no one the faintest idea 

 of any particular abihty, any Hkelihood of future dis- 

 tinction.'^ Some sHght chance, as it seemed, turned 

 his attention to natural science ; one or two friends 

 were reading for the Natural Science Tripos, and 

 George -Eomanes ceased to read matheraatics and 

 began to work at natural science, competing for and 

 winning a scholarship in that subject. 



Eighteen months only remained for him to work 

 for his Tripos, and it is not siu'prising that he only 



^ Mr. Cantley writes : ' I have never seen Eomanes, under the greatest 

 provocation, out of temper. Always gentle, always kind, never over- 

 bearing . . . never forgetful of friends.' 



