40 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 



sion, and one of the speakers declared that I had the bump 

 of reverence developed enough for ten priests. 



As it was decided that I should be a clelrgyman, it was 

 necessary that I should go to one of the English universities 

 and take a degree ; but as I had never opened a classical 

 book since leaving school, I found to my dismay, that in the 

 two intervening years I had actually forgotten, incredible as it 

 may appear, almost everything which I had learnt, even to 

 some few of the Greek letters. I did not therefore proceed 

 to Cambridge at the usual time in October, but worked with 

 a private tutor in Shrewsbury, and went to Cambridge after 

 the Christmas vacation, early in 1828. I soon recovered my 

 school standard of knowledge, and could translate easy Greek 

 books, such as Homer and the Greek Testament, with moder- 

 ate facility. 



During the three years which I spent at Cambridge my 

 time was wasted, as far as the academical studies were con- 

 cerned, as completely as at Edinburgh and at school. I at- 

 tempted mathematics, and even went during the summer of 

 1828 with a private tutor (a very dull man) to Barmouth, but 

 I got on very slowly. The work was repugnant to me, chiefly 

 from my not being able to see any meaning in the early steps 

 in algebra. This impatience was very foolish, and in after 

 years I have deeply regretted that I did not proceed far 

 enough at least to understand something 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 



