anxious to excel in poetry. He was soon tired of his official duties,
and resigned his situation in favour of his brother, who at this moment
fills a responsible office in the same department in Dublin Castle.

In the year 1826, being then in his seventeenth year, Mr. Smith entered
Trinity College, Dublin, where his whole career was, as might have been
expected, one of easy triumph. He constantly carried off the highest
classical premiums, and occasionally those in science, as well
as--whenever he tried--for composition. In 1829, he gained a
scholarship, and in the ensuing year obtained the highest honours in the
power of Trinity College to bestow, namely, the gold medal for classics.
He thought so little, however, of distinctions gained so easily, that he
either forgot, or at all events neglected, even to apply for his gold
medal till several years afterwards; when, happening to be in Dublin,
and conversation turning upon the prize which he had obtained, he said,
in a modest, casual kind of way, to a friend, "By the way, I never went
after the medal; but I think, as I'm here, I'll go and see about it."
This he did, and the medal was of course immediately delivered to its
phlegmatic oblivious winner! He was a great favourite at college, for he
bore his honours with perfect meekness and modesty, was very kind and
obliging to all desiring his assistance, and displayed, on all
occasions, that truthful simplicity and straightforwardness of
character, which, as we have already seen, he had borne from his birth.
He was much beloved, in short, by all his friends and relations; and one
of the latter, his uncle, Mr. Connor, an Irish Master in Chancery,
confidently predicted that "John William would live to be an honour to
his profession and friends." In 1829, he joined his family, who were
settled in Versailles, and spent some time there. In the ensuing year,
his father, who possessed a first-rate capacity for business, was
appointed Vice-treasurer and Paymaster-general of the forces in Ireland,