Pelham | Page 3

Reginald Glanville. I loved him with a warmth of
attachment, which has since surprised even myself.
He was of a very singular character: he used to wander by the river in
the bright days of summer, when all else were at play, without any
companion but his own thoughts; and these were tinged, even at that
early age, with a deep and impassioned melancholy. He was so
reserved in his manner, that it was looked upon as coldness or pride,
and was repaid as such by a pretty general dislike. Yet to those he loved,
no one could be more open and warm; more watchful to gratify others,
more indifferent to gratification for himself: an utter absence of all
selfishness, and an eager and active benevolence were indeed the
distinguishing traits of his character. I have seen him endure with a
careless goodnature the most provoking affronts from boys much less
than himself; but directly I, or any other of his immediate friends, was
injured or aggrieved, his anger was almost implacable. Although he
was of a slight frame, yet early exercise had brought strength to his
muscles, and activity to his limbs; and his skill in all athletic exercises
whenever (which was but rarely) he deigned to share them, gave alike
confidence and success to whatever enterprise his lion-like courage
tempted him to dare.
Such, briefly and imperfectly sketched, was the character of Reginald
Glanville--the one, who of all my early companions differed the most
from myself; yet the one whom I loved the most, and the one whose
future destiny was the most intertwined with my own.
I was in the head class when I left Eton. As I was reckoned an
uncommonly well-educated boy, it may not be ungratifying to the
admirers of the present system of education to pause here for a moment,
and recal what I then knew. I could make twenty Latin verses in half an
hour; I could construe, without an English translation, all the easy Latin
authors, and many of the difficult ones, with it: I could read Greek
fluently, and even translate it though the medium of a Latin version at

the bottom of the page. I was thought exceedingly clever, for I had only
been eight years acquiring all this fund of information, which, as one
can never recal it in the world, you have every right to suppose that I
had entirely forgotten before I was five and twenty. As I was never
taught a syllable of English during this period; as when I once
attempted to read Pope's poems, out of school hours, I was laughed at,
and called "a sap;" as my mother, when I went to school, renounced her
own instructions; and as, whatever school-masters may think to the
contrary, one learns nothing now-a-days by inspiration: so of
everything which relates to English literature, English laws, and
English history (with the exception of the said story of Queen Elizabeth
and Lord Essex,) you have the same right to suppose that I was, at the
age of eighteen, when I left Eton, in the profoundest ignorance.
At this age, I was transplanted to Cambridge, where I bloomed for two
years in the blue and silver of a fellow commoner of Trinity. At the end
of that time (being of royal descent) I became entitled to an honorary
degree. I suppose the term is in contradistinction to an honourable
degree, which is obtained by pale men in spectacles and cotton
stockings, after thirty-six months of intense application.
I do not exactly remember how I spent my time at Cambridge. I had a
piano-forte in my room, and a private billiard-room at a village two
miles off; and between these resources, I managed to improve my mind
more than could reasonably have been expected. To say truth, the
whole place reeked with vulgarity. The men drank beer by the gallon,
and eat cheese by the hundred weight--wore jockey-cut coats, and
talked slang--rode for wagers, and swore when they lost--smoked in
your face, and expectorated on the floor. Their proudest glory was to
drive the mail--their mightiest exploit to box with the coachman--their
most delicate amour to leer at the barmaid.
It will be believed, that I felt little regret in quitting companions of this
description. I went to take leave of our college tutor. "Mr. Pelham,"
said he, affectionately squeezing me by the hand, "your conduct has
been most exemplary; you have not walked wantonly over the college
grassplats, nor set your dog at the proctor--nor driven tandems by day,

nor broken lamps by night--nor entered the chapel in order to display
your intoxication--nor the lecture-room, in order to caricature the
professors. This is the general behaviour of young men of family and
fortune; but it has not been your's. Sir,