EARLY LIFE. 15 



and learning, displayed in many works, one of which, 

 published before he was of age, obtained for him the 

 degree of Doctor of Laws. But his profligate life and 

 want of all principle brought him into contempt ; and 

 his works, some of which have great merit, have sunk 

 into oblivion, in consequence of the spite and the un- 

 fairness that runs through them, and deprives them 

 of all trustworthiness/"" 



I returned to school, my health being re-established. 

 The work did not at all oppress me, and I left it at 

 the head of the class and of the school what is there 

 called dux. This was in some respects accidental. I 

 was at the head of the class with Keay (afterwards 

 high at the Scotch bar), and acknowledged him my 

 superior, possibly from his having attended the whole 

 of the former year.t I never disputed the place with 

 him ; but on his leaving Edinburgh, before the break- 

 ing up and the examination, I succeeded to the head- 

 ship. Horner, a year after, belonged to that class, but 

 it was his first year under the rector. Next year he 

 also left it at the head. Murray (afterwards Lord 

 Murray) had been of his year, but left the school for 

 Westminster. I had always, except during the ill- 

 ness I have referred to, the blessing of robust health, 

 only interrupted, when a child, by putrid fever, which 

 produced an extraordinary effect in destroying my 

 memory almost entirely ; for I had just learned to 

 read, taught by my father, and I had in those ten 

 days lost all knowledge even of the letters. I very 



* Gilbert Stuart see Appendix III. f See Appendix IV. 



