hey really did like him.

Of his energy we have evidence in the _amount_ of material contained in
his collected works. There was nothing dilatory about him, and here he
again resembled his father, who had markedly the power of doing things at
the right moment, and thus avoiding waste of time and discomfort to
others. George had none of a characteristic which was defined in the
case of Henry Bradshaw, as "always doing something else." After an
interruption he could instantly reabsorb himself in his work, so that his
study was not kept as a place sacred to peace and quiet.

His wife is my authority for saying that although he got so much done, it
was not by working long hours. Moreover, the days that he was away from
home made large gaps in his opportunities for steady application. His
diaries show in another way that his researches by no means took all his
time. He made a note of the books he read, and these make a considerable
record. Although he read much good literature with honest enjoyment, he
had not a delicate or subtle literary judgment. Nor did he care for
music. He was interested in travels, history, and biography, and as he
could remember what he read or heard, his knowledge was wide in many
directions. His linguistic power was characteristic. He read many
European languages. I remember his translating a long Swedish paper for
my father. And he took pleasure in the Platt Deutsch stories of Fritz
Reuter.

The discomfort from which he suffered during the meeting at Cambridge of
the International Congress of Mathematicians in August 1912 was, in fact,
the beginning of his last illness. An exploratory operation showed that
he was suffering from malignant disease. Happily he was spared the pain
that gives its terror to this malady. His nature was, as we have seen,
simple and direct, with a pleasant residue of the innocence and eagerness
of childhood. In the manner of his death these qualities were ennobled
by an admirable and most unselfish courage. As his vitality ebbed away
his affection only showed the stronger. He wished to live, and he felt
that his power of work and his enjoyment of life were as strong as ever,
but his resignation to the sudden end was complete and beautiful. He
died on December 7, 1912, and was buried at Trumpington.

HONOURS, MEDALS, DEGREES, SOCIETIES, ETC.

_Order_. K.C.B. 1905.

_Medals_. {192a}

1883. Telford Medal of the Institution of Civil Engineer