18 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. [Oh. II. 



see any meaning in the early steps in algebra. This impatience 

 was very foolish, and in after years 1 have deeply regretted 

 that I did not proceed far enough at least to understand some- 

 thing of the great leading principles of mathematics, for men 

 thus endowed seem to have an extra sense. But I do not 

 believe that I should ever have succeeded beyond a very low 

 grade. With respect to Classics I did nothing except attend a 

 few compulsory college lectures, and the attendance was almost 

 nominal. In my second year I had to work for a month or two 

 to pass the Little-Go, which I did easily. Again, in my last 

 year I worked with some earnestness for my final degree of 

 B.A., and brushed up my Classics, together with a little 

 Algebra and Euclid, which latter gave me much pleasure, as it 

 did at school. In order to pass the B.A. examination, it was 

 also necessary to get up Paley's Evidences of Christianity, and his 

 Moral Philosophy. This was done in a thorough manner, and I 

 am convinced that I could have written out the whole of the 

 Evidences with perfect correctness, but not of course in the 

 clear language of Paley. The logic of this book and, as I may 

 add, of his Natural Theology, gave me as much delight as did 

 Euclid. The careful study of these works, without attempting 

 to learn any part by rote, was the only part of the academical 

 course which, as I then felt, and as I still believe, was of the 

 least use to me in the education of my mind. I did not at that 

 time trouble myself about Paley 's premises ; and taking these 

 on trust, I was charmed and convinced by the long line of 

 argumentation. By answering well the examination questions 

 in Paley, by doing Euclid well, and by not failing miserably 

 in Classics, I gained a good place among the ol iroWol or 

 crowd of men who do not go in for honours. Oddly enough, I 

 cannot remember how high I stood, and my memory fluctuates 

 between the fifth, tenth, or twelfth, name on the list.* 



Public lectures on several branches were given in the 

 University, attendance being quite voluntary ; but I was so 

 sickened with lectures at Edinburgh that I did not even attend 

 Sedgwick's eloquent and interesting lectures. Had I done so 

 I should probably have become a geologist earlier than I did. 

 I attended, however, Henslow's lectures on Botany, and liked 

 them much for their extreme clearness, and the admirable 

 illustrations ; but I did not study botany. Henslow used to 

 take his pupils, including several of the older members of the 

 University, field excursions, on foot or in coaches, to distant 

 places, or in a barge down the river, and lectured on the 



* Tenth in the list of January 1831. 



