xxviii 



AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 



hour of my life I shall acknowledge, with feelings of 

 sincerest gratitude, the many acts of paternal kind- 

 ness which I so often received at the hands of the 

 learned and generous fathers of Stonyhurst College, 

 " Prassidium et dulce decus meum." 



After leaving this safe retreat of health and 

 peace, " I journeyed homewards to join my father ; 

 and I spent a year with him^ " Gaudens equis cani- 

 busque et aprici gramine campi." He was well de- 

 scribed by the Roman poet : — 



" Beatus ille, qui procul negotiis, 

 Ut prisca gens mortalium, 

 Paterna rura, bobus exercet suis 

 Solutus omni foenore." 



He had been a noted hunter in his early days ; and, 

 as he still loved in his heart to hear the mellow tones 

 of the fox hound, he introduced me particularly to 

 Lord Darlington, whose elegant seat on horseback, 

 and cool intrepidity in charging fences, made him 

 the admiration of his surrounding company. 



Still my father would every now and then say to 

 me, with a gracious though significant smile on his 

 countenance, " Studium quid inutile tentas?" and, 

 as my mother was very anxious that I should see 

 the world, they took advantage of the short peace of 

 Amiens, and sent me to Spain. 



Two of my maternal uncles, who had received 

 brilliant educations, and were endowed with great 

 parts, but who were not considered worthy to serve 

 their country in any genteel or confidential capa- 

 city, unless they would apostatise from the faith of 

 their ancestors, had deemed it prudent to leave their 



