and present his petition to the Bishop. "Who are you?" says his Lordship, "I know nothing of you; I never heard of you before." "My Lord! I have suffered long and severely for my attachment to our royal master, as well as your Lordship has. I believe your Lordship and I have been in all the gaols in England." "What does the fellow mean? Man! I never was confined in any prison but the Tower." "And, my Lord!" said Boldero," I have been in all the rest myself.”—The Bishop's heart relented, and he good-naturedly admitted the claim of his petitioner.

CHAP. IV.

Account of Studies at College-Dr. Brown's Medals - Bishop Law's Sermon on the 5th of November, 1773-Scraping of the Proctor-Mr. Homer-Dr. Farmer-Dr. Ogden.

1772-1775.

As soon as I was settled in college, I resumed my classical studies, which had suffered a long suspension by a most severe sore throat and fever, fatal to multitudes at that time, and by a vacation of several months.

Our college lectures in Algebra and Logic, were odious to me beyond conception; and I am persuaded by experience, that Logic and Metaphysics are by no means calculated for those early years. Upon this point I shall have occasion to descant in connexion with a future juncture of my life, and therefore omit any further disputation here.

As to the Elements of Geometry and Algebra, these are in themselves so extremely plain, so accessible to every capacity, and carry with them such beautiful and engaging evidence-Truth in her very essence!--that I can scarcely account for an indisposition to such theories,

but from a defect of judgment, or dexterity, in the teacher.

So enamoured, however, was I with the beauties of classic ground, that no considerations could for some months prevail upon me to step out of this flowery path into the regions of Science and Philosophy, intricate as they then appeared. I endeavoured, but in vain, to prevail upon myself to open Euclid, the OLD CARPENTER! as one of our year, like myself, a mathematician by compulsion, was wont to call him in derision.

At last, emulation effected, what reason and inclination were unable to accomplish. Upon hearing that several of my contemporaries had already made a considerable proficiency in Geometry, I resolutely sat down to encounter this formidable adversary, with all the assiduity that I could bear, and all the faculties that I could summon.

It is observed at Cambridge, and is generally true, that the hardy progeny of the North, from Cumberland, Westmoreland, and the remoter parts of Yorkshire, are usually the profoundest proficients in Mathematics and Philosophy. Mrs. Barbauld, a lady of an excellent genius, which she has condescendingly employed to the noblest ends, in exciting infancy

to virtue, and maturer years to a love of freedom, somewhere sings,

"And souls are ripened in our northern sky.";

But I need not recur to this hypothesis for a solution of the point in question. A previous foundation for the superstructure of academical pursuits is usually laid in the schools of those Northern parts of the country. Independently of that provision, this portion of our youth, generally speaking, have been so rudely educated in classic learning, in a style so unattractive and inelegant, as makes them appear, in contrast with their polished brethren from the public seminaries of the South, mere "Caprimulgi" and "Fossores."

They naturally, therefore, turn their attention to those objects which afford an equal prospect to their ambition; and become sedulous, to a superior degree of industry and perseverance, in their endeavours to counterbalance, by pre-eminent excellence in their own province, deficiencies of education almost

So Pope:

See her poem called "Invitation."

"But ripens spirits in cold northern climes."

Ess, on Crit. 401.

irremediable: as a genuine taste for the beauties of composition is, I think, rarely found, where it was not instilled by an accomplished preceptor at an early period. The reasons of this truth (for such abundant experience has proved it to me) may, I believe, be suggested without much difficulty.

The ideas, communicated in early years, leave not only a more lasting, but a more pleasing, impression on the mind, so as to be tenaciously cherished in after life with all the prejudice of habitual attachment. They receive such accessions of strength, by a slow, indeed, but perpetual reinforcement, as ultimately amount to a considerable sum, at a time when the uninitiated are perfect strangers to these enchantments of sensibility and taste.

The memory too is the first faculty which we exercise to any extent, with profit, and is successfully and delightfully employed in laying up her treasures through this early period; for the flowers of classic ground which invite her access are numerous beyond computation, and breathe a fragrance to which no language can do justice.

Besides, at a more advanced stage, the mind becomes capable of moral, political, and mathematical investigation, with success; and revolts with disgust from the indispensable