whatever upon his literary views; and evidently without even those moderate advantages which a common mind might have derived from it. The loss itself, however, is much more easy to account for, than the singular vigour of mind, with which he afterward redeemed it. In Jesus College, as well as in many others, mathematical studies formed then, as they do now, the principal path to College honours and emoluments. To these, of course, the chief attention of the youth, and the principal encouragement of the tutors, would be directed. But Edward Clarke had unhappily no taste for this branch of learning, and therefore made little progress in it; and as for classics, in which, as has been before observed, he came up with a moderate knowledge, there was nothing at that time, either in the constitution or the practice of the College, calculated to encourage a taste already formed for them, much less to create one where nothing of the kind was felt before. All the classical lectures, which it is remembered, were given during the three years of his residence, were confined* to the two little tracts of Tacitus, De Moribus Germanorum, and De Vita Agricolæ; and the only other occasions upon which he was called upon to revive his classical knowledge, were the delivery of a Latin declamation in the chapel once a year, and the usual examinations of the Rustat scholars at Easter, for which latter no great preparation was required. Under these circumstances, with a strong literary passion, and at sea, as it were, without a pilot, upon the great waters of mental speculation, it was natural for him to form his own * This was rather the fault of the time than of the place; at present it is well known, much greater attention is paid to classical studies in the University at large, and particularly in Jesus College, where this branch of literature has been since cultivated with great diligence and success. plans, and to steer his own course; and, accordingly, his College life may be said, with a few slight deviations, to exhibit an obvious continuation of the track which he had adopted at school; the same languid and capricious efforts in the regular studies of the place; the same eagerness in the excursive pursuits of his own choice; and the same playful, welcome interruption of the more measured and regular labours of others. Hence it happened, that, though he was considered, by all who knew him, to be a very delightful fellow, his real character was understood by none: and as the higher powers of his mind were not yet sufficiently developed, and scarcely known even to himself, his literary pretensions were ranked by his contemporaries at a low rate, and the promise of his future life regarded by those who loved him with considerable alarm. To one, however, looking back upon those years which now seem very short, and which, owing to his friendship, have been always numbered amongst the most agreeable of his life, it sometimes appears, that in this estimate there was a want of discernment amongst his contemporaries themselves. Even in that season of apparent indolence and real trifling, there was much in the character and furniture of his understanding that was instructive, as well as all that was delightful. It was impossible to mingle intimately with a mind of so much ardour, fancy, and benevolence, and, it may be added, purity, without reaping from it many great advantages: and, when the author of this memoir is disposed to trace to their source, as men are sometimes wont to do, the advantages as well as the defects of his own education, he is led to conclude, that much of the intellectual pleasure he has since derived from certain valuable sources, may be imputed to the cultivation of a taste, which was at first nurtured, if not imbibed, in his society. Indeed, there is reason to believe, that with more actual knowledge, Edward Clarke possessed a consciousness of greater capabilities, than his friends then gave him credit for; and, certain it is, that there frequently came across his mind, visions of brighter scenes, and aspirations after higher destinies, than seemed at that time ever likely to attach to him. There remains amongst his papers, at this moment, a manuscript dissertation of his own, upon the comparative antiquity of the Jews and Egyptians, written, as he himself records in the margin, at seventeen years of age, in consequence of a dispute with his brother upon this subject, and exhibiting great spirit and considerable research. But the most curious and interesting proof that his imagination was sometimes haunted by ideas of future distinction, is communicated by his sister, on whose affectionate heart every circumstance relating to her brother seems to have been indelibly impressed. "In one corner of our abode," she says, "was a small apartment occasionally used for books, and papers of every kind, which now bore the dignified title of a study: here my brother had placed two black backed easy chairs, where he would sit with his sister for hours and hours building airy plans of future actions. Look! he would exclaim, look upon that shelf where appear three generations of my ancestors: Wotton's Welsh Laws, Clarke's Connexion of Coins, and our father's Travels in Spain. And shall my works ever stand beside them? Never will I cease, never will I say enough, until my own books shall appear with them in that shelf beneath my mother's roof." His wish was partially fulfilled; two volumes of his youthful works did find a place on that very shelf to his mother's admiration and delight; but, long before the full completion of the prophecy, before the elabo rate productions of his maturer years could claim under his mother's roof a divided honour with those of his ancestors, the kind parent who inhabited it was no more, and one earthly object of his literary labours was never obtained. Notwithstanding the eccentric habits, which have been imputed to him, it is remarkable that, in every thing which related to the regulations and discipline of the College, his conduct was most exemplary: At chapel and lectures he was always present and always attentive; and, though in the latter the advances of his own mind by no means kept pace with the progress of the tutors, he had always something pleasant to say or do, connected with the subject, which was sure of disarming reproof, and suggested the appearance, or at least the hope, of improvement. In the exercise of his office, more particularly, of chapel clerk, he was scrupulously and conscientiously correct; and it ought not to be omitted, that in his English declamations, the only species of College exercise in which the state of his acquirements offered him a prospect of success, he bestowed great labour, and both merited and obtained considerable credit. The style and the manner of his compositions were always much admired, particularly by his contemporaries; and so much pains did he take with the delivery, that he used to bring his declamation rolled and sealed up into the chapel, and retain it in that shape during the whole of his repetition. On those accounts, as well as from his attentive and attractive manners, he was justly in great favour both with the master and the tutors. Every advantage, which might be considered as the fair reward of regularity and attention, was bestowed upon him; and not a single instance is remembered, in which he received a College punishment or an admonition of any kind. Nor was his academical regularity more remarkable than the sobriety and correctness of his whole demeanour at this period. From excess of drinking, which was the prevailing vice of the place and of the day, he was particularly averse; and though fond of society, and always acceptable in it (the natural state of his spirits being, at least, upon a level with the half-intoxication of his friends), he was ever upon his guard, ever watchful of the moment when the gaiety of the party was likely to degenerate into excess, and certain of finding some plausible pretext, or inventing some ingenious scheme for making his escape. These happy exemptions from the popular failings of his age, to which men of more regular minds sometimes fell a sacrifice, and in which others unhappily made their boast, must be attributed to his early moral habits, and to the excellent religious principles he had imbibed at home. But there was another motive at work within him, forcibly operative in these, but much more obvious in other, restraints which he imposed on himself; and that was the peculiar duty, which the pledge he had given to his mother demanded from him, of avoiding every wanton and unnecessary expense, and of recommending himself by all honourable means to the College authorities. That the recollections of his biographer, which have been always vivid in every thing relating to him, have not failed in these particulars, may be inferred from a poem written by him at this period, the character and sentiments of which, not only accord with the course of conduct imputed to him, but must be thought highly honourable to the feelings and state of mind of a youth not eighteen years of age, naturally gay and festive in his temperament, of strong passions, and |