very irregular education he had received would have carried Robert
through his college examinations; but, luckily for him in this
respect, before such a trial of his learning came round, he heard of
the death of his elder brother, after a short illness, brought on by
a hard drinking-bout. Of course, Robert was summoned home, and it
seemed quite as much of course, now that there was no necessity for
him to "earn his bread by his learning," that he should not return to
Oxford. So the half-educated, but not unintelligent, young man
continued at home, during the short remainder of his parent's
lifetime.

His was not an uncommon character. In general he was mild, indolent,
and easily managed; but once thoroughly roused, his passions were
vehement and fearful. He seemed, indeed, almost afraid of himself,
and in common hardly dared to give way to justifiable anger--so much
did he dread losing his self-control. Had he been judiciously
educated, he would, probably, have distinguished himself in those
branches of literature which call for taste and imagination, rather
than any exertion of reflection or judgment. As it was, his literary
taste showed itself in making collections of Cambrian antiquities of
every description, till his stock of Welsh MSS. would have excited
the envy of Dr. Pugh himself, had he been alive at the time of which
I write.

There is one characteristic of Robert Griffiths which I have omitted
to note, and which was peculiar among his class. He was no hard
drinker; whether it was that his head was easily affected, or that
his partially-refined taste led him to dislike intoxication and its
attendant circumstances, I cannot say; but at five-and-twenty Robert
Griffiths was habitually sober--a thing so rare in Llyn, that he was