32 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 



ment of my mind than Dr. Butler's school, as it was 

 strictly classical, nothing else being taught, except a 

 little ancient geography and history. The school as 

 a means of education to me was simply a blank. 

 During my whole life I have been singularly incapable 

 of mastering any language. Especial attention was 

 paid to verse-making, and this I could never do well. 

 I had many friends, and got together a good collection 

 of old verses, which by patching together, sometimes 

 aided by other boys, I could work into any subject. 

 Much attention was paid to learning by heart the 

 lessons of the previous day ; this I could effect with 

 great facility, learning forty or fifty lines of Virgil or 

 Homer, whilst I was in morning chapel ; but this 

 exercise was utterly useless, for every verse was for- 

 gotten in forty-eight hours. I was not idle, and with 

 the exception of versification, generally worked con- 

 scientiously at my classics, not using cribs. The sole 

 pleasure I ever received from such studies, was from 

 some of the odes of Horace, which I admired greatly. 

 When I left the school I was for my age neither 

 high nor low in it ; and I believe that I was con- 

 sidered by all my masters and by my father as a very 

 ordinary boy, rather below the common standard in 

 intellect. ' To my deep mortification my father once 

 said to me, " You care for nothing but shooting, dogs, 

 and rat-catching, and you -will be a disgrace to your- 

 self and all your family." But my father, who was 

 the kindest man I ever knew and whose memory I 

 love with all my heart, must have been angry and 

 somewhat unjust when he used such words. 



