genial and playful spirit which gave such a charm to his social and
parental relations, and which helped him to elicit from others the
knowledge of which he made so much use in the many diverse situations of
his after-life. His mother, Lord Elgin's second wife, was a daughter of
Mr. Oswald, of Dunnikier, in Fifeshire. Her deep piety, united with wide
reach of mind and varied culture, made her admirably qualified to be the
depositary of the ardent thoughts and aspirations of his boyhood; and, as
he grew up, he found a second mother in his elder sister, Matilda, who
became the wife of Sir John Maxwell, of Pollok. To the influence of such a
mother and such a sister he probably owed the pliancy and power of
sympathy with others for which he was remarkable, and which is not often
found in characters of so tough a fibre. To them, from his earliest years,
he confided the outpourings of his deeper religious feelings. One
expression of such feeling, dated June 1821, may be worth recording as an
example of that strong sense of duty and affection towards his brothers,
which, beginning at that early age, marked his whole subsequent career.
'Be with me this week, in my studies, my amusements, in everything. When
at my lessons, may I think only of them; playing when I play: when
dressing, may I be quick, and never put off time, and never amuse myself
but in playhours. Oh! may I set a good example to nay brothers. Let me not
teach them anything that is bad, and may they not learn wickedness from
seeing me. May I command my temper and passions, and give me a better
heart for their good.'

[Sidenote: School and college.]

He learned the rudiments of Latin and Greek under the careful teaching of
a resident tutor, Mr. Fergus Jardine. At the age of fourteen he went to
Eton, and thence, in due time, to Christ Church, Oxford, where he found
him self among a group of young men destined to distinction in after-life