gardens in the neighborhood were taxed, and some of the lower boys were
employed to furnish it. I threatened, but without asperity, to trace the
depredators, through his associates, up to their leader. He with perfect
good-humor set me at defiance, and I never could bring the charge home
to him. All boys and all masters were pleased with him. I often praised
him as a lad of great talents,--often exhorted him to use them well;
but my exhortations were fruitless. I take for granted that his taste
was silently improved, and that he knew well the little which he did
know. He was removed from school too soon by his father, who was the
intimate friend of Sumner, and whom I often met at his house. Sumner had
a fine voice, fine ear, fine taste, and, therefore, pronunciation was
frequently the favorite subject between him and Tom Sheridan. I was
present at many of their discussions and disputes, and sometimes took a
very active part in them,--but Richard was not present. The father, you
know, was a wrong-headed, whimsical man, and, perhaps, his scanty
circumstances were one of the reasons which prevented him from sending
Richard to the University. He must have been aware, as Sumner and I
were, that Richard's mind was not cast in any ordinary mould. I ought to
have told you that Richard, when a boy, was a great reader of English
poetry; but his exercises afforded no proof of his proficiency. In
truth, he, as a boy, was quite careless about literary fame. I should
suppose that his father, without any regular system, polished his taste,
and supplied his memory with anecdotes about our best writers in our
Augustan age. The grandfather, you know, lived familiarly with Swift. I
have heard of him, as an excellent scholar. His boys in Ireland once
performed a Greek play, and when Sir William Jones and I were talking
over this event, I determined to make the experiment in England. I
selected some of my best boys, and they performed the Oedipus Tyrannus,
and the Trachinians of Sophocles. I wrote some Greek Iambics to
vindicate myself from the imputation of singularity, and grieved I am