exhibiting to his companions, superior powers of memory, particularly in what is called capping Latin verses. A very favourite study, as he himself once confessed in the House of Commons, was the old romances, Palmerin of England, and Don Belianis of Greece, upon which he had wasted much valuable time. An inquisitive and speculative cast of mind were not the least distinguishing of his peculiarities; he devoted much time to the eager perusal of history and poetry; the study of the classics seemed to be more his diversion than his business. He was of an affectionate disposition, rather fond of being alone, less lively and bustling than other boys of the same age, but good-natured, communicative of what he knew, and always willing to teach or to learn.

In the family of this gentleman are preserved a series of his letters, at least a considerable number of them, commencing at the age of 15, down to within two months of his death; and the earliest said to be distinguished by as strong a love of virtue, affection for his friend, and superior capacity for observation, as the last. To these the writer, from some family objection, has not been permitted to have access; but the same friend to whom Mr. Shackleton communicated the substance of some of them, as well as the specimens of young Burke's poetical powers which appear in the present volume, has favoured him with some of the circumstances to which they refer.

Few anecdotes of him, while at school, are preserved. It is recorded, however, that seeing a poor man pulling down his own hut near the village, and hearing that it was done by order of a great gentle

man in a gold-laced hat (the parish conservator of the roads), upon the plea of being too near the highway, the young philanthropist, his bosom swelling with indignation, exclaimed, that were he a man, and possessed of authority, the poor should not thus be oppressed. Little things in children often tend to indicate, as well as to form, the mind of the future man; there was no characteristic of his subsequent life more marked, than a hatred of oppression in any form, or from any quarter.

The steward of the establishment at Ballitore, who sometimes condescended to be director of the school-boy sports, used to repeat this and similar anecdotes with no little pride of his old acquaintance when he had risen into celebrity. He delighted in hearing of him; he would sit for hours attentive to this his favourite theme; and particularly when the newspapers had any thing of more than usual interest respecting him to communicate, he was quite insensible to all other claims upon his attention. He was a hard-headed, North-of-Ireland presbyterian, named Gill, upon whom young Shackleton wrote verses, and young Burke chopped his boyish logic; the shrewd, though unlettered remarks in reply to which, gave him in their opinion some claim to the more philosophical appellation of Hobbes. By this name Mr. Burke used to inquire after him while at college; and never afterwards went to Ballitore, where he chiefly continued to reside, without giving him proofs of regard.

The last visit he made took place in 1786, after the opening of the impeachment of Mr. Hastings. The old steward, who regarded this measure as

another illustration of the humane spirit displayed by the boy, was then verging on his eightieth year, his eyes dim, his limbs feeble, and, as it proved shortly afterwards, tottering into the grave; but the announcement of the name of his youthful associate inspired the worn-out frame of the aged man with momentary vigour. Mr. Burke accosted him with his accustomed kindness, shook him often and cordially by the hand, and introduced his son, who showed equal attention to his father's humble but venerable friend. This condescension so much affected the old man's feelings, that for some time he was deprived of utterance; he bowed repeatedly, and at length brought out, that he was proud-very proud to see himadding “you "you have many friends in Ireland, sir." "I am happy, Mr. Gill, that you are one of them.— You look very well.-Am I much changed since you last saw me?" Old William replied, after some attempt at examination, that he was almost too dark with age to observe; when Mr. Burke, with characteristic affability, took a candle and held it up to his own face, to give the aged servant a better view of it: a scene which the relator of the anecdote says, those who were present cannot easily forget.*

A spirit of emulation with his friend Shackleton, and natural taste together, made young Burke towards the close of his school career, if not a poet, at least poetical; though few, if any, of his verses

• Poems, by Mary Leadbeater (late Shackleton), 1808.-Cottage Biography, 1822, by the same.

VOL. I.

of this date are known to exist. It was about this period, however, immediately before or after quitting school, that in a spirit of friendly rivalry they each translated the thirteenth Idyllium of Theocritus on the death of Adonis, reported to have possessed considerable merit. Some scenes of a play on the story of King Alfred, are also attributed to him about the same time, which were either lost or destroyed while on a visit to a relation residing at Ballyduff, near Thurles, in the county of Tipperary.

At Ballitore also he is believed to have imbibed other and more distinguished characteristics; particularly that regard for civil and religious liberty which marked his future life; and this from observing among the society of friends, in which he was domesticated, that differences of opinion on these points made neither worse subjects, nor worse men. Reflection, and the remembrance that relations on the side of both parents happened to be Roman Catholics, probably taught him to extend the same liberality of sentiment toward persons of that persuasion, then in a very oppressed and persecuted state. His opinions on this point are known to have been formed soon; and the fact exhibits an additional proof of early maturity of mind, in possessing the power to disengage itself from those prejudices and animosities existing in Ireland between protestant and catholic, at a time when, even among the nearest relations, they produced an unchristian, and, in fact, a hostile spirit.

To something of this he alluded in a debate after the riots in London (June 20, 1780), on a proposal

that no papist should be permitted to educate a protestant; and on this occasion spoke in very high terms of his preceptor, while he gives us some insight into the nature of his studies soon afterward.

"He had been educated (he said) as a protestant of the church of England by a dissenter who was an honour to his sect, though that sect was considered one of the purest. Under his eye he had read the Bible, morning, noon, and night, and had ever since been the happier and better man for such reading. He had afterwards turned his attention to the reading of all the theological publications on all sides, that were written with such wonderful ability in the last and present century; but finding at length that such studies tended to confound and bewilder rather than to enlighten, he had dropped them, embracing and holding fast a firm faith in the church of England."

Toward the middle of April, 1744, having been just three years at school, he quitted it, possessed of what Mr. Shackleton used to describe as "a large and miscellaneous stock of learning for his years," and next day, as he informed that gentleman by letter, entered Trinity college, Dublin, as pensioner, the expense of which is about 150l. per annum, that of a fellow commoner, the highest class of students, being about 2007. The following is the entry in the register; premising that there is a mistake of a year in his age, possibly done by design, 16 being the usual time of admission; and that the academical year beginning in July, the year is really 1744, though nominally a year sooner; his name also is