XI 



appear that Sylvester was in all cases kindly treated by his school- 

 fellows. He was kind-hearted and brave, but rendered extraordinarily 

 irritable by the constant references, in a spirit of opposition, to his 

 Jewish extraction. He fought many battles in defence of his religion 

 with, it is said, greater courage than skill. On at least one occa- 

 sion he wished to fight a duel, being aware that with fists he was 

 no match for his opponent. At one time, considering that he was 

 treated with oppression by one of the under-masters, and being 

 directed, with the rest of the class, to write a theme on " Des- 

 potism," he composed an excellent essay, giving various instances, 

 both high and low, of the abuse of power, but reflecting unmistakably 

 upon the case of the under-master and himself. He concluded: 

 " Thus we see that power begets tyranny, whether in the case of the 

 mightiest monarch or of the petty usher of a school or institution." 

 The severe punishment that followed, it is related, was endured with 

 great courage. 



Soon after, Sylvester ran away from the school. He sailed from 

 Liverpool, and shortly found himself in the streets of Dublin with 

 but a few shillings in his pocket. This led to a singular incident. 

 As the boy was walking down Sackville Street he was observed 

 by an elderly gentleman who, his curiosity aroused, stopped and 

 inquired into his circumstances. A few moments' conversation 

 sufficed to reveal the fact that the boy was related to his wife, being, 

 in fact, her first cousin ! Thereupon he invited him to his house,, 

 entertained him, and finally sent him back to Liverpool. The gentle- 

 man was the Eight Hon. R. Keatinge, Judge in the Prerogative 

 Court of Ireland. 



Being fully aware of his great knowledge of mathematics, he was 

 in the habit of proposing questions beyond the capacity of the 

 mathematical master. Before leaving he gained a prize of five 

 hundred dollars offered from the United States for the solution of a 

 certain question. It seems that a problem in combinations of great 

 difficulty had come under the notice of a certain D. V. Gregory, a 

 friend of Sylvester's elder brother in New York. On the advice 

 of the latter it was sent to the younger brother in Liverpool, 

 who almost immediately solved it. Its nature may be gathered 

 from the subjoined extracts from a letter addressed to him 

 a few years afterwards by D. V. Gregory : " You solved my 

 problems, which I submitted without their knowledge, to the great 

 satisfaction of the Contractors of Lotteries in this country, and they 

 expressed, frequently, an exalted opinion of your mathematical attain- 

 ments in solving so intricate a subject. The inventor of the combi- 

 nation system himself was never able, as I learn, to package by 

 any mathematical rule . . . On account of their withdrawing 

 from business at the end of this year, the managers had prepared all 



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