1 8 LIFE OF THE AUTHOR. 



blowing eggs. Long years afterwards, towards the end of a life full 

 of quiet acts of kindness, he once mentioned this gift of the darning- 

 needle as the most meritorious act of charity he had ever done. 



Tudhoe School, having migrated a few miles, has now grown into 

 a great college. Its professors, in time of need, showed that they 

 preferred learning to emolument, and their disinterestedness has met 

 the reward it deserved. The original building has become the centre 

 of a group ; the museum and the library are increasing : the college 

 bids fair to expand into a university. Such is the present condition 

 of Ushaw. In 1796, however, it was little more than a preparatory 

 school, so Waterton left it and proceeded to more advanced studies 

 at Stonyhurst, a handsome country-house, which had lately been 

 turned into a college. Mr Weld, of Lulworth Castle, had made it 

 over to some Jesuits, whom the troubles of the times had driven 

 from their college at Liege. Waterton was one of their first pupils 

 in their new home. The Jesuits have always been celebrated for the 

 astuteness with which they discover and cultivate the bent of young 

 minds. Waterton profited in no small degree by the wisdom of the 

 Order. His instructors encouraged as far as possible his love for 

 Natural History. At the same time, they gave him a taste for litera- 

 ture. Thus his time passed gaily at Stonyhurst, and during the six 

 years he stayed there, he laid up a store of knowledge, and went 

 through a training which did much to make his whole life pleasant. 



" My master was Father Clifford, a first cousin of the noble Lord" 

 of that name. He had left the world, and all its alluring follies, that 

 he might serve Almighty God more perfectly, and work his way with 

 more security up to the regions of eternal bliss. After educating 

 those intrusted to his charge with a care and affection truly paternal, 

 he burst a blood-vessel, and retired to Palermo for the benefit of a 

 warmer climate. There he died the death of the just, in the habit 

 of St Ignatius. 



" One day, when I was in the class of poetry, and which was about 

 two years before I left the college for good and all, he called me up 

 to his room. ' Charles,' said he to me, in a tone of voice perfectly 

 irresistible, ' I have long been studying your disposition, and I clearly 

 foresee that nothing will keep you at home. You will journey into 



