Page:The Marquess of Dalhousie.djvu/30

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DALHOUSIE'S WORK IN INDIA

visit to his old school, and won the hearts of the Harrow boys by giving them a present of two sovereigns apiece. So princely a largess from a grey-haired hero of such fine manners, of a presence so commanding, must have filled many a boyish heart with other sentiments than gratitude alone. The conqueror of the Maráthás stood there in all his glory; and young Ramsay, for one, would see in that splendid old Harrovian the embodiment of a greatness which he, too, might hope some day to rival.'

In 1829 James' father succeeded Lord Combermere, as Commander-in-Chief in India. The eldest son, Lord Ramsay, accompanied him to the East, and James entered at Christ Church, Oxford.

That learned and ancient society was at this time the home of a brilliant group of young men, destined to play great parts in the history, not only of their own country, but also of India. Mr. Gladstone was an undergraduate, about two years senior in standing. Lord Canning who succeeded Dalhousie as Governor-General of India, and Lord Elgin who succeeded Canning as Viceroy of India, were among the friends of young Ramsay at Christ Church. He was regarded from the first as a youth of high promise, and a vacation tour in Northern Italy further stimulated his classical taste and love of learning. But the death of his eldest brother, Lord Ramsay, in 1832, broke in upon his reading during