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Death of Mr Stephenson

Approves of Dr Johnson's work with the poor: Wilmot Street.

Met with an old friend who had lived in a darkened room for many years after a blow to the head

Enquires after Mary [?] following her severe shock.

Ship becalmed, crossing-the-line ceremony

On embossed notepaper for Emmanuel College, Cambridge. - Saw a good deal of Brown during his seven years at Trinity; came into 'closer contact with the members of the kitchen staff one summer when I coached a winning crew of theirs for the Town regatta [and] was able to judge of several of them in their ordinary life as well as in their work'; Brown did not then row in the boat, but Blenkin was 'struck by the keen interest which he took in the college generally'. Thinks Brown would 'prove a thoroughly efficient and trustworthy servant' if successful in his application to become college shoeblack.

The Mill House, Westcott, Dorking. - Discusses a passage of Thucydides, and Macaulay's criticisms of Lucan, which 'are among his very best... He never fails to choose out the best passages, and to laugh at the bad ones'. Robert 'has a great affection for Lucan, perhaps out of proportion to his merits', partly because after Catullus he was the first classical author he studied 'on my own adventure, and so, as it were, with passion', and partly because he read it at school with Bowen, who 'delighted in Lucan, and thought his cleverness and brilliance... apart from all others'.

The weather is 'desperately and oppressively hot'; he and Bessie are going to Borrowdale before coming to Wallington. Hopes 'London is not going to be visited for its sins like New York' [perhaps a reference to the stock market crash?]

43 Queen Anne Street. - Hopes Milnes will address the Association for Promoting the General Welfare of the Blind; existing institutions for the blind will not admit them above the age of 21; receipt of selling price for goods would benefit blind workmen; hopes to found institutions for teaching trades to the blind; decreased isolation will lead to greater self-respect.

From the [Morn?]ing Post.

Graham's Town, Cape of Good Hope. - The new Governor Sir George Grey mentioned that Milnes had offered to do Knight a favour; has been seeking home leave on urgent private business for 18 months; scarcity of officers now relieved but the current General Officer [James Jackson] is 'the most implacable old gentleman that ever held command'; he will only allow home those who sell out; refused Knight's claim though it was supported by Grey and others; would Milnes urge it with Lord Hardinge. Jackson's nephew has enjoyed long periods of leave; believes he may have influenced his uncle adversely owing to jealousy of Knight's Indian service.

Thirlestane, Selkirk, N[orth] B[ritain]. - His son Mark seeks the office of Remembrancer for the City of London, which Mr Robartes [sic: Charles Henry Robarts] is to vacate after quarrelling with the authorities. 'Mr Robartes was so ingenuous as to desire to reform some of the Corporation. I am confident that Mark would not have been so simple. Solicits Houghton's influence in 'the Land of the Turtle' and asks him to advise Mark. Postscript: will remain at his current address until the Land Bill comes before the Lords.

Declines invitation for 17th; seeks Colonial appointment next spring 'in a temperate climate and where representative institutions prevail'; would not accept Ceylon under any circumstances.

Typescript termly lists of Butler's tutees on Side D carrying brief notes in Butler's hand recording exeats and absences as well as occasional other notes as to permission granted, and addresses while travelling. There are lists for Michaelmas, Lent, and Easter terms for each academic year from 1929 to 1938, accompanied by lists of men admitted on Side D for Michaelmas 1934. The list for Michaelmas term 1936 was torn up by Butler apparently in error, as the pieces were found in one of his envelopes. A final list for Michaelmas 1938 is present, and a list of men admitted to Side D for 1939, as are lists of freshmen for 1938 and 1939, and a list of examination results at Trinity published in August 1938. The final lists do not carry notes by Butler.

Cavendish Laboratory, Cambridge.—Sends a contribution to the Clifford fund. Discusses Tait's criticisms of Mayer.

(With an envelope.)

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Transcript

Cavendish Laboratory
Cambridge
12 April 1876

Dear Pollock

I enclose £5 for the Clifford Fund. I hope that a slight displacement of his position on the earth’s surface may bring him into a milder air and one less stimulating than that at Gower Street, {1} so that as his oscillations between elliptic and hyperbolic space gradually subside he may find himself settling back again into that parabolic space wherein so many great and good men have been content to dwell, and may long enjoy the 3 treasures of the said great & good men as enumerated by S.T.C. {2}

The gospel according to Peter G. T. {3} although somewhat entêté {4} in the places where old controversies are fought over again is much sounder than it sounds when read aloud. The habit of lecturing generates a peculiar jargon which, when taken down by a reporter, looks strange. Tail† has always been proving that Mayer used inconclusive reasoning when he made an estimate of the dynamical equivalent of heat, {1} whereas Joule was on firm ground all along.

Hence Mayer should not have many marks for this piece of his work. But Mayer sent up ingenious answers to a great many questions propounded by nature, many wrong some right, but all clever. The strict examiner gives him but small credit for these but the historian of science must take account of the amount of good work by others which followed on the publication of Mayers† papers.

Now one man thinks most of the credit to be assigned to each individual as his property while another thinks most of the advance of science which is often associated by the noise even of fools, which directs wiser men to good diggings.

Yours truly
J Clerk Maxwell

[Direction on envelope:] F Pollock Esqre | 12 Bryanston Street | London W.

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The envelope was postmarked at Cambridge on 12 April 1876, and has been marked in pencil ‘Clerk Maxwell’.

{1} Comma supplied, in place of a full stop.

{2} Coleridge’s poem ‘Reproof’ contains the following lines:

Hath he not always treasures, always friends,
The great good man?—three treasures, love, and light,
And calm thoughts, regular as infant’s breath

{3} Peter Guthrie Tait.

{4} Obstinate (Fr.).

{5} This is probably the intended reading, but what is written resembles ‘Tail’.

† Sic.