note, and proceeded with all the expedition which prudence would allow to Beaconsfield, where we got soon after four. While our veal cutlet was dressing we took a walk of a short mile to see Mr. Burke's house, which is the most elegant thing of the kind I ever saw. I had an idea of its being a farm, or something between a farm and a gentleman's house, but I was quite mistaken. In the centre there are seven windows in a line, and from the two angles of the front, there are colonnades, consisting of seven or eight columns each, which lead to two considerable masses of building, which are, in proportion, as elegant as the centre. All the ground, and it seems a considerable domain, is well planted, and with much taste, and the whole you and the girls will have a good idea of, according to your old estimate, by my saying it would suit Sir Charles Grandison.

It appears to have been partly from anxiety about the child's health, but still more, no doubt, from a desire of being able personally to watch over his physical and intellectual progress, that Dr. Denman removed him, when in his seventh year, from Mrs. Barbauld's at Palgrave to Dr. Thompson's at Kensington, at which latter place he remained till his tenth year, when he was sent to Eton.1

1 Dr. Thompson belonged more to the old school than Mrs. Barbauld but he was a very respectable teacher.

Denman at Eton from 1788 to 1795-Few records of his Eton careerNotice of him (æt. 13) during an Eton vacation at Winterslow-Early love for music-Early politics and talent for speaking-Burnt in the leg for not 'making a speech '—Greek and Latin scholarship-English verse translations-Denman at Winterslow 1795 to 1796-Rambles in North Wiltshire-Stonehenge, Essay on-Thorney Down, Verses on -Denman goes into residence at St. John's College, Cambridge, Oct. 1796-His pursuits and friendships at the University-MerivaleShadwell-Hodgson-Drury-Bland-The 'Greek Anthology' and its contributors-Byron's praises of in 'English Bards and Scotch Reviewers'-Denman's translation With myrtle my sword will I wreathe' praised by Byron in note to third canto of' Childe Harold'— Denman's undergraduate life at St. John's-Merivale's Diary-Walking tour with Shadwell in Wales 1797-Plan for a winter excursion to Snowdon-Walks with Merivale in neighbourhood of Cambridge— Literary talk-Lord Levaine-Denman's readiness at capping versesHis memory and love for poetry-Akenside and Beattie-HamletSimilarity of tastes and pursuits in Denman and Merivale-Denman's fondness for romances of chivalry-His admirable Greek scholarshipDenman's correspondence at Cambridge with his sister Mrs. BaillieExtracts from letters to her-Description of Dovedale-And of Dorset and Devon coasts-Early admiration for 'Lyrical Ballads'-For Joanna Baillie's dramas-Mrs. Baillie's memoirs of her brother-His early love of theatricals-A taste that never left him-Denman's political sentiments-An ardent 'Foxite'-His unswerving political constancy -Early admiration for Dr. Parr as a staunch Whig-Mrs. Baillie's speculations as to origin of her brother's political opinions-Personal advantages of Denman as a young man-Physical strength and activity -Walks from Cambridge to London in twelve hours-His magnificent voice-Air of distinction and refinement-Combination of sweetness and force-Correspondence between Denman, while at Cambridge, and his

parents-Letter to his mother, February 1799-Honours in classics proposed and rejected-Political torpor of Cambridge-Letter to his father, June 1799-Velleius Paterculus,' Diversions of Purley'-Letter from Dr. Denman to his son, 1799-Dr. Denman on Horace-His theory of what his son should be-'The wisest and best man that ever lived'-Denman's dislike of mathematics-Consequent failure to take honours-Extracts from letters to Mrs. Baillie on this-Extract from verses written in 1799 in dispraise of mathematics-Eagerness for active life-Takes an ordinary degree and leaves Cambridge for London in February 1800.

DR. DENMAN sent his son to Eton in September 1788, and the boy remained there for nearly seven years, till the summer holidays of 1795-from his tenth to his seventeenth year.

The records of his Eton career are very scanty; a few of his schoolboy letters have indeed been preserved by the pious care of his relatives-principally of his sister Mrs. Baillie, who was throughout life a constant and favorite correspondent-but they throw no light on his early pursuits or friendships, and, though creditable to his good sense and intelligence, are none of them of sufficient interest to justify transcription.

He was frequently in the habit of passing part of his Eton vacations with Mr. Brodie and his young cousins at Winterslow, and on one of these occasions, when he was in his thirteenth year, we get a glimpse of him in a letter from one of his maternal aunts to her sister Mrs. Denman. He pleases his uncle very much,' she writes, by going into the school-room and sitting down with his cousins to business. He is turning the Story of Sadak, the master of the horse, into Latin verse: it was quite his own suggestion, and my brother says he does it very well.'

Miss Brodie also mentions his love for music, and expresses some surprise at the extent of his accomplishments in singing. He has got together a choice collection of ballads,' she says, which he delights in singing for the amusement of his young cousins.' The taste for music, thus early developed, was a source of great enjoyment to Lord Denman throughout his life.

The boy's strong political opinions, which were even then of an ultra-Liberal cast, got him into many scrapes at Eton; but he held to them, though then exceedingly unfashionable, with characteristic tenacity, and did manful battle against the young Pittites and antiJacobins of the school. His talent for speaking was also known at Eton, and, as Mrs. Hodgson records, one form of bullying adopted towards him when a fag was to insist on his unpremeditated exercise of this talent, under the most inconvenient circumstances; on one occasion he was roused from sleep and ordered instantly to make a speech,' and on his obstinate refusal to comply, was burned on the leg with a redhot poker, the scar of which branding he carried with him to his grave.

He was well grounded at Eton in Greek and Latin scholarship, and one of his English verse translations from the Greek, executed while at school, 'The Complaint of Danaë,' was of sufficient merit to be afterwards inserted in the 'Anthology.'

It is not known why Dr. Denman removed his son from Eton at an earlier age than usual-sixteen and a half; it may probably have been with a view to his health. A fever which had attacked him in his sixteenth year had a good deal weakened him, and the doctor

may have wished to set him up by the bracing air of the North Wiltshire Downs. At any rate, Denman did not return to Eton after the summer vacation of 1795, but went instead to his uncle's at Winterslow.

Mr. Brodie was himself an accomplished scholar, and the preparatory year that his nephew passed with him before going into residence at Cambridge no doubt tended to increase the accuracy and extent of his classical acquirements. At Winterslow, his great amusement was to make long rambles on foot among the breezy plains and uplands of North Wiltshirefrequently extending his excursions as far as Stonehenge, the solitary grandeur of which struck him profoundly, and set him at work among the antiquarians and early chroniclers, to solve, if possible, the mystery of its origin. The essay he wrote on this subject has been preserved, and is highly creditable to his early diligence and acuteness. At Winterslow also he indulged a good deal in the composition of English verse, which, as already stated, he had begun to cultivate with some success at Eton. Some of his translations from the classics are above the average, and some original lines on 'Thorney Down' (a bold hill crowned with a clump of wood, which rises to a commanding eminence over Salisbury Plain), have a fair share of merit, though they naturally enough show strong traces of a mode in poetry which is less fashionable now than in the days when Darwin (of the Botanic Garden') was regarded as a monarch of Parnassus.1

6

From Winterslow, in October 1796, being then well

The lines to 'Thorney Down,' together with several translations and original pieces in verse, will be found in Appendix No. II.