sonorous voice, and a countenance in which it was easy to discover his vigorous intellect, his open and manly nature, and an irascibility which, with all his efforts and with the discipline of Loyola, he found it impossible to conquer. Father Laurenson was obliged from, I believe, ill-health, to give up the class, and was succeeded by the Rev. Mr. Brooks He was, when he became the teacher of the class to which I belonged, a young man of manners, which were pushed, perhaps, to the utmost limit of refinement. His taste in literature was highly cultivated, and his mind was full of examples from the best authors, and of precepts from the best ancient and modern critics. He took exceedingly great pains in exciting an admiration for the beauties of the classical writers which it was his office to explain; and in rendering them into English he enforced the necessity of preserving the strength and the colour of the Greek or Latin phrase. "To English composition he insisted that particular attention should be paid. He had studied it, and made himself complete master of the principles on which it depends. There were two books in perpetual use, one was 'Walker's Elocution,' and another-it is not much known, though it contains excellent matter-called, 'Cheironomia,' written by the Rev. Mr. Austin ... At Stoneyhurst, if a few important branches of education were not as much attended to as they ought to have been, a neglect of this useful and pleasurable accomplishment was not among its faults. The passion which prevailed at this school for recitation soon extended itself to acting. A private theatre was built at the expense of the students, under the superintendence of the masters."* From each class, the boys who had made the most proficiency in elocution were selected by its master to take parts in the performances. On one occasion young Sheil was passed over as not being qualified to fill even a subordinate part. "As might be expected, he felt and made apparent his boyish disappointment on the occasion. The fact was, that even then he was persuaded that he was more competent to give effect to dramatic performance than any of the boys whom the master had selected; and it was not clear to him that he had not as good a notion of dramatic composition as the master himself.”+ There were also exhibitions called Academics,' where the boys were examined in Greek and Latin, and recited their own verses before a great concourse of people. "These shows tended greatly to excite emulation and that *Schoolboy Recollections, &c., &c. + Letter of Mr. Justice Ball, already quoted. ་ love of distinction which the Jesuits had a particular faculty in creating. Between students of different social rank no distinction was ever shown. The only claim of superiority among class-fellows recognised by their teachers was, that asserted by pre-eminence in intellectual attainments; and the son of the tradesman and the heir to an ancient earldom were treated, both in school and play-hours, perfectly alike. The tone of national sentiment encouraged was also very different from that which prevailed at Kensington House. When the first tidings of Trafalgar were brought, cheers were given by the masters, which were unanimously echoed by their pupils. Several holidays were given in honour of the event; and a poem in its celebration was composed by one of the professors, and publicly recited in the great hall."* The Irish pupils at this time were not nearly so numerous as those of English birth. A good deal of rivalry appears to have existed between them. It prevailed in the competition of the class, and occasionally broke forth in angry gestures and exclamations in the playground, when parties at football not unfrequently were formed according to national divi * Schoolboy Recollections, &c., &c. sions. "In general the English were successful, because they showed more prudence and self-control. The Irish were so precipitate and headlong as constantly to miss the victory when they were on the point of gaining it. In the school exercises, wherever attention and assiduity were required, the English were generally superior; but in matters of display the Irish went far beyond them. In recitation, in prose as well as verse, the difference between them was especially remarkable,—the Irish usually showing greater flexibility and a more musical ear.' Young Sheil continued as a student at Stoneyhurst until the 15th of November, 1807. In the year 1805, we find him occupying the second place in the class of poetry, Henry Beaumont, who is described as a person of remarkable ability, retaining the first place throughout the entire of the classical course. Among his class-fellows was Richard Cruise, afterwards well known and esteemed as a member of the Irish Bar. On quitting Stoneyhurst it was the wish of his father that he should become a student of Trinity College, Dublin; and in November, 1807, he entered as a pupil of Doctor Wall, now Vice-Provost of the University. As he did not reside within the walls of * Schoolboy Recollections, &c. the college, he came less under the personal observation of his tutor than others of his class. Doctor Wall's recollections of him, however, confirm the impression of his sound classical scholarship. For science he never appears to have shown any particular capacity or addiction. During the "Freshman " years of his collegiate course his vacations were spent chiefly at Bellevue, whose surrounding scenes and associations he was more than ever capable of enjoying. Full of vivacity and humour, and with the schoolboy reputation among his family and friends of possessing talents of no common order, he would often realize the fond dreams his mother had long cherished regarding him, fixing the attention of his seniors by his keenness and originality in argument; and when worsted in more serious controversy, by his powers of oversetting the gravity of the discussion, and enlisting on his side the sympathy of the less learned listeners by some audacious stroke upon the bell of laughter. There was something grotesque and extravagant in the ideas with which at will he delighted to perplex the sober politicians and priests of the old school that used to assemble at his father's table. He loved to start new questions under the thin disguise of seeking for information, and when he had drawn forth some solemn |