in Latin and Greek. Richard Archdall, another school-fellow, excelled in
English verse. Richard Sheridan aspired to no rivalry with either of
them. He was at the uppermost part of the fifth form, but he never
reached the sixth, and, if I mistake not, he had no opportunity of
attending the most difficult and the most honorable of school business,
when the Greek plays were taught--and it was the custom at Harrow to
teach these at least every year. He went through his lessons in Horace,
and Virgil, and Homer well enough for a time. But, in the absence of the
upper master, Doctor Sumner, it once fell in my way to instruct the two
upper forms, and upon calling up Dick Sheridan, I found him not only
slovenly in construing, but unusually defective in his Greek grammar.
Knowing him to be a clever fellow, I did not fail to probe and to tease
him. I stated his case with great good-humor to the upper master, who
was one of the best tempered men in the world; and it was agreed between
us, that Richard should be called oftener and worked more severely. The
varlet was not suffered to stand up in his place; but was summoned to
take his station near the master's table, where the voice of no prompter
could reach him; and, in this defenceless condition, he was so harassed,
that he at last gathered up some grammatical rules, and prepared himself
for his lessons. While this tormenting process was inflicted upon him, I
now and then upbraided him. But you will take notice that he did not
incur any corporal punishment for his idleness: his industry was just
sufficient to protect him from disgrace. All the while Sumner and I saw
in him vestiges of a superior intellect. His eye, his countenance, his
general manner, were striking. His answers to any common question were
prompt and acute. We knew the esteem, and even admiration, which,
somehow or other, all his school-fellows felt for him. He was
mischievous enough, but his pranks were accompanied by a sort of
vivacity and cheerfulness, which delighted Sumner and myself. I had much
talk with him about his apple-loft, for the supply of which all the