CORRESPONDENCE. 337 



so as to be far beyond most of my classmates in Latin ; and 

 this enabled me to play a boy of thirteen ! all the first 

 year. I dare say Mr. Kingsley never suspected me of 

 knowing too much, but there can be no great danger now 

 in telling him the truth. So well was I grounded in the 

 Latin that I scarce ever looked at my Horace or Tully 

 until I was in his fearful presence ; and if he recollects, 

 although he had a trick of trotting me about the pages in 

 order to get me mired, he may remember that I generally 

 came off pretty well. There is one of my college adven- 

 tures which tickles me, even to this day. I never studied 

 but one regular lesson in Homer. The poor bell, or a cold, 

 or some letter had to answer for all the others. Well, when 

 the class reviewed, I clapped another fifty or sixty lines to 

 the old lesson, and went to recitation. The fact was noto- 

 rious, so notorious that the division used to laugh when 

 I was called up for a Homeric excuse. Examination came 

 at length, and Mr. Stuart, between whom and myself I can- 

 not say there were any very strong sympathies, was exam- 

 ining. I had calculated my distance, and by aid of the 

 Latin translation, which I read as easily as English, I was 

 endeavoring to find out what Homer meant in a certain 

 paragraph that I anticipated would fall to my lot. I re- 

 member that I sweated. The examiner was not disposed 

 to give me the benefit of my recent application, but skipped 

 me over the whole book. I found the new place amid a 

 general titter, and lo ! it was in the very heart of my two 

 lessons. As we sailors say, there was plenty of sea-room, 

 and I had half a mind to ask the examiner to take his 

 pick. As it was, I got through admirably, and I believe 

 greatly to the astonishment of the examiner ; and I know 

 it was highly to the amusement of my own tutor, whose 

 laughing eyes seemed to say, " This is what my boys can do 

 without study." If I ever write my Memoir, the college 

 part of it will not be the least amusing. On one occasion, 

 a tutor of the name of Fowler was scraped in the hall. 

 VOL. i. 22 



