reaches us after passing through two prisms; the recollections of old age, which recalls while it regrets the past; and the impressions of a child's fancy, which is dazzled by what it hears. This was the first and perhaps the most profitable part of the young boy's education. He was afterwards put into an institution, where he was taught Latin and other languages; but, according to his biographers, he never excelled in scholarship. He must have made up for lost time later on ; for all his contemporaries speak of his extensive reading and his perfect familiarity with all the literature of the Occident.
His letters written to his mother before leaving school show already the bent of his mind. Keen, observant, and satirical, his wit is sometimes exercised at the expense of his comrades. He already showed signs of a deeply religious nature, and was ambitious too of a great career. His high hopes are sometimes temporarily crushed by a sudden depression or feeling of discouragement, and in his letters he declaims against the injustice of men. He feels the pervading influence of the Byronism of that time. "I feel as if called," cries the young enthusiast, "to some great, some noble task, for the good of my country, for the happiness of my fellow-citizens and of all mankind. My soul feels the presence of an angel from heaven, calling, impelling me towards the lofty aim I aspire to."
