he had not the true mathematical instinct; | I might say quite, unanimous feeling in he had no taste for the more refined Cambridge that Whewell was the right methods of modern analysis, and so far man, almost the only possible man, to as I know he made no real mathematical succeed him. It has been hinted that his advance. The history and philosophy of marriage with Miss Marshall brought him science were more practicable to him; he under the notice of influential patrons, took a keen interest in watching the and facilitated his appointment. Such, course of science, and in certain branches, however, was not the belief in Cambridge; especially that of the theory of tides, he there was a quite predominant feeling attempted to make contributions; but any that he and no one else must be master, addition to our physical knowledge which and Sir Robert Peel was not the man to he may have made bears no comparison disregard a feeling, with the existence of with the greatness of his mental endow- which I know that he was made well acment, and must not be taken as a measure quainted. of the man. The phrase, invented, I think, by Sir David Brewster, according to which science was his forte and omniscience his foible, is one which must not be taken too strictly. Doubtless he extended his thoughts and studies over so wide a field that they could not fail to be sometimes deficient in depth and thoroughness, but it is not true that in any proper sense of the word he had a great scientific gift.

Neither was he great as a college tutor or lecturer, or as a writer of books for the university; he had not the temperament which made him sympathize with his pupils and they with him; he had not the peculiar gift of imparting knowledge easily and agreeably; and his books were very hard and crude, and totally devoid of elegance. I may add that he was not great as an examiner; he did not sufficiently consider what the examinees were likely to know; nor did he take sufficient pains to put his questions clearly, or to make them exact. On one occasion, when I had the honor of examining with him, the adjudication of a prize, which hung doubtfully between two candidates, depended ultimately upon their respective successes in Whewell's papers; whereupon it appeared that both the one and the other, though able men, had been able to accomplish so little — the result for each was, in fact, so near zero- - that after careful consideration he could not determine that one was better or worse than the other. "There is not enough," said he, very emphatically, "to form an opinion."

Nevertheless, every one felt in those days that Whewell was our great Cam bridge man; people might peck at him, abuse his books, find fault with his temper, and what not, but every one honored him and felt proud of him. When the mastership of Trinity College became vacant, in 1841, by the resignation of Dr. Wadsworth, there was an almost, perhaps

As master of Trinity he was the prominent feature of the university till the day of his death. He was not the best mathematician, nor the best scholar, nor the best divine; nor was his judgment always that which the majority of the members of the university chose to follow. He exhibited occasionally sad defects of temper, and with many he was no favorite; but there was no one who, on the whole, could be put in the same class with him for intellect and industry and force of character combined. I may add that his hospi tality and his geniality as a host left nothing to be desired.

An anecdote illustrative of his singular readiness in expressing his thoughts was told me by Dr. Cartmell, the late master of Christ's College. Dr. Cartmell, when vice-chancellor, met the master of Trinity one afternoon, and falling into conversation with him concerning the University Commission, which had then been recently issued, expressed his opinion that it would be an advantage to the university if Dr. Whewell would commit to paper his views upon a subject which was then so interesting to all its members. Whewell said he would think about it, and went for his afternoon ride; that same evening, at about seven or eight o'clock, there arrived at Christ's College lodge an elaborate paper which the master of Trinity had composed.

He always appeared to me to be a good, because a genuine, conversationalist. He did not indulge in the monologue, but, as a rule, listened patiently to the person with whom he conversed, and was content to take turn and turn about. Sydney Smith wrote from London: "When are you coming to thunder and lighten amongst us? The simile was witty, as Sydney Smith's sayings usually were; and there was lightning in Whewell's conversation, as well as audible thunder sometimes; but the former was generally more notable than the latter, and the abundance

of his resources was so great that upon almost any subject he seemed to be able to argue best, and to know most, in any company in which you chanced to meet

him.

mind seemed to have preserved some. thing of the old Cambridge feeling, which, by idolizing Newton's methods, retarded for years the progress of English mathematics. He was unable to gain much acceptance for his views, but it cannot be denied, that if mathematics be regarded simply as mental training, the danger which he feared is a real one, and the warnings which he gave so abundantly are not to be altogether despised.

Sometimes, Johnson - like, he would knock his enemy down with the butt-end of his argument. He demolished a notable Oxonian brother, reputed to have a temperament similar to his own, with whom he was maintaining a discussion upon Gothic architecture, with the follow- The same tone of mind manifested it ing weighty sentence: "I studied archi- self in all his conversation, his sermons, tecture under Rickman a man who his speeches. Even in an after-dinner never expressed an opinion upon a sub-speech on a public occasion, I have heard ject unless he felt assured that he thor- him, as chairman, reason out the whole oughly understood it." question of after-dinner speeches almost A story used to be told of him, that on in the form of a syllogism. "When a one occasion he was engaged in argument number of persons are met together on a concerning a subject, in discussing which social occasion, it is necessary that some his antagonist took his stand upon a cer- one should express the thoughts and feeltain article in an encyclopædia, from ings which they have in common, and which, in fact, he appeared to have gained which have brought them together." the greater part of his knowledge. The That was the major premiss. "I appear discussion was somewhat shortened by a to be the person upon whom the duty quiet remark dropping from Whewell's devolves upon this occasion." That was lips: "Yes; I wrote that article." I re- the minor premiss. Accordingly I will member to have had a somewhat similar proceed to submit to you a series of experience on a small scale. Speaking to toasts." That was the conclusion. He him concerning a certain term used in appealed to reason, even in the case of mathematical language, I was surprised his horse. I was riding with him one day to hear him say, "I invented that term; "when his horse became somewhat fidgety; and he referred me to the memoir in which it had first been used.

Whewell's mind was essentially argumentative. He had a great fear, not I think always groundless, lest young men, in reading mathematics, and adopting the algebraical methods of modern times, should use those methods too much as a mill for grinding out results, and should substitute them for reasoning, instead of employing them intelligently as aids to the reasoning faculty. "Men rush," he would say, "to differentiation on the slightest provocation." My own opinion used to be that he pushed this view too far, and that if he had had his way, Cambridge studies, in the success of which he took such a constant and lively interest, would not have been helped, but hindered; he would have been glad, as far as possible, to reduce all demonstrations to a Newtonian form; I doubt whether he ever completely enjoyed the modern application of mathematical analysis to physics, still less mathematical analysis for its own sake. He seemed to think that a result was not thoroughly reasoned out, unless you could, as in a proposition of Euclid or a lemma of Newton, see right through it from beginning to end; his

instead of using such language as horses seem to understand, Whewell looked down at his beast, and said sternly — "How can you be so absurd?"

This hard, argumentative quality of brain was, however, compatible with the coexistence in his mental constitution of a decidedly poetical vein. It was not merely that he obtained the chancellor's medal as an undergraduate, and that he wrote sonnets and elegiacs, and held strong opinions concerning Wordsworth; but his whole soul was full of poetry, and his chief work, the "History of the Inductive Sciences," owes much of its charm to this feature of its author's mind. Sir John Herschel, if I am not mistaken, in the critique on the history, which appeared in the Edinburgh Review, called attention to the dramatic form in which the progress of science had been chronicled. We have the prelude of a certain epoch, then the epoch itself, then the sequel. Doubtless the history of natural science is not the field in which we should expect to find much room for the development of the poetical faculty; but the readableness of Whewell's book-and for my own part I regard it as specially readable-is, I think, very much due to

the possession by the author of a share | name and his works live? Certainly he of that gift which makes a poet. I do will not appear so remarkable to those not know whether the collection of elegi- who follow him as he did to his contemacs, which he composed when in seclu- poraries; his grand form and presence, sion, after the death of his first wife, and and all that is connected with the living which are contained in Mrs. Stair Doug-man, have passed away, and will not leave las's volume, will be regarded as any indi-even that amount of mark upon the sands cation of poetical power; he had, I may of time which has been left by some notobserve by the way, a great belief in the able characters. Neither will his name adaptability ot English to hexameters and pentameters, in which, perhaps, not many Englishmen share; but certainly, as an indication of deep feeling, and as a proof of the indomitable activity of his mind, which must always be doing something, these verses are very striking.

be associated with any special discovery in science or otherwise; nay, even his magnum opus, the “ History and Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences," is not only open to criticism as to the principles upon which it is based, but also from its very nature is liable to be suserseded by Whewell's heart was very much in the other works, written by those who came study of moral philosophy. He held the after the first historian and philosopher, professorship for many years, and may and who have the benefit of his previous almost be said to have founded it. Be- efforts. The growth of science during fore his time the chair bore the name of the past half-century has, in fact as we casuistry. I believe it was accepted by well know, and as we may learn more Whewell, with the express condition that particularly from Sir John Lubbock's late casuistry should be interpreted to mean presidential address at the jubilee meetmoral philosophy; and the formal name ing of the British Association - been so of the professorship is now moral theol- prodigious, that a history written in 1837 ogy, casuistical divinity, and moral philos- must even now be well nigh out of date. ophy. I do not venture to express a judg- Nevertheless it must not be too hastily ment upon the results of Whewell's assumed that the work which Whewell studies, as contained in his published was able to do has been without permavolumes; but I imagine that these vol-nent fruit. In the first place, when he umes will not rank with his work on the inductive sciences.

His Bridgewater Treatise had great popularity for many years after its publication, and is not yet, I suppose, quite out of date; but his most popular work was one which was published anonymously, "The Plurality of Worlds." His name might as well have been printed on the title page; ex pede Herculem; no one had ever much doubt as to the author; if they had, it would have been dispelled by an appendix which soon appeared, in which the author set up all his critics in a row and knocked them down like ninepins one after another. I venture to prophesy that this volume will long find readers; not because it appears to me convincing, quite the contrary; but the question of the habitability of the planets and the condition of their inhabitants, if any, is one of those which is sure to crop up from time to time, which can never be conclusively answered, and in discussing which it is almost impossible that "The Plurality of Worlds" can ever cease to be an element.

Then

wrote his greatest work, he was probably the only Englishman who was capable of conceiving the work, or of carrying out the conception; certainly there were not many who had the intellectual grasp or the industry necessary to success. again, as was remarked by Sir John Herschel, whatever may be thought about this or that portion of the book, it undoubtedly left the subject in a very different position from that which it occupied before. The tree of knowledge received a shake from the hand of a giant, and a quantity of ripe fruit fell, though much was left behind. In fact, the principle of Whewell's efforts seems to be well indicated by the colophon which he adopted for his works, and the motto which he took from the old Greek game; he handed on the lamp; he gave his knowledge to others in order that they might give it to those who should follow in the intellectual race. And though his actual books may become antiquated, as probably they will, still it may well be believed that they will have had an effect in settling the foundations of scientific knowledge, which This remark leads to the more general will be long felt, and will be of permanent question which must necessarily occur to value when the volumes themselves have the mind of all those who knew Whewell, ceased to be generally read. In this reor who have known about him will his spect there may possibly be some analogy

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