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quaintance. lie was the son of Mr. Edward Litton, who, although a 

 native of Ireland, had settled in Liverpool, where, after the failure 

 of some commercial speculations, he became the master of a mer- 

 cantile school, and acquired a high literary reputation. Our late 

 lamented friend was, therefore, a native of Lancashire ; and in the 

 year 1795 he entered Trinity College, Dublin, having selected for 

 his tutor the late Dr. Magee, then a Fellow of the College, and subse- 

 quently Archbishop of Dublin. It was usual then, as it is now, 

 for the students from that part of England to return to their friends 

 after each examination, and this course appears to have been adopted 

 by young Litton, until his election to a scholarship rendered his 

 residence in the College a matter of necessity. As intercourse by 

 sea with Liverpool was not then as easy as it is now, it is no cause 

 of wonder that Litton, although eminently distinguished in the 

 undergraduate course, failed to fulfil the conditions that were then 

 necessary for obtaining the gold medal at the degree examination. 

 It will be remembered that this medal was then given, not, as now, to 

 the best answerer at a severe examination, but to the student who, 

 during his whole undergraduate course, had never omitted an exa- 

 mination nor obtained, at any one examination, judgments below a 

 certain standard. In point of fact, the gold medals in Dr.Litton's 

 class, which graduated in 1800, were obtained by the present Vice- 

 Provost, and by another very eminent scholar, the lamented John 

 Ormston. 



At his graduation in 1800, Litton must have been about twenty- 

 three or twenty-four years of age ; and he appears at first to have 

 contemplated studying for a fellowship. At the fellowship exami- 

 nation of 1801, however, he did not sit, for his father died at the 

 close of the year 1800; and this circumstance, requiring him to be 

 absent from College, would naturally have interfered with his 

 studies, even if the time had sufficed to enable him to prepare him- 

 self with any prospect of success. 



From 1801 to 1805 there was no vacancy for fellowships ; and 

 although during that period young Litton continued occasionally to 

 attend the mathematical lectures, yet when the time came he did 

 not present himself as a candidate. The fact is, that his habits of 

 general discursive reading, his taste for natural history and bo- 



