The Sun.
London, England, 1852-11-18 00:00:00

HIS EDUCATION.

Arthur Wellesley, when ten years of age, was, accord-
ing to the British and Foreign Review, placed for a while
under the tuition of the Rev. William Gower, at Chelsea,
and it was from that pedagogue consequently that his
Grace received the rudimentary parts of his education.
Child as he was then, his love of probity already began
to be displayed—his little companions referring to him
in all their games as umpire.
At a later period, namely, when he was about twelve,
Arthur Wellesley accompanied his brother, the future
Marquis, on a visit in North Wales, at Brynkinalt. It
was there, says the Observer, that a battle was fought,
"not mentioned in the dispatches." The battle—which
was one between Arthur Wellesley and the sister of
David Evans, one of his playfellows—after threatening
to prove a " battle royal," although relating only to a
handful of marbles, terminated abruptly by the future
hero, " with tears in his eyes," leaving the field in the
undisputed possession of his fair but vixenish little com-
panion.

- After the death of hiS' father, our great captain was
placed by the widowed Countess at Eton, where he re-
sided in the boarding-house kept by Mrs. Raganeau.
Years after, on taking his own children—the present
Duke and Lord Charles Wellesley—to the same place to
pass through the ordeal of instruction, he went with
them to the underground floor, and pointed out the spot
on the kitchen door where he had carved his name with
a penknife. Although but a trifle in itself, it is to be
regretted, for the sake of its associations, that this me-
mento has been since then effaced. At Eton the late
Duke is still spoken of in the school traditions, as a boy
venri retiring and meditative, but at the same time active
wasagthel --11
Duke of
it w highiteSpirited. As a proof of the latter peculiarity,
remarked by the late Bobus Smith—" I
Wellington's first victory !" " How ?"people would ask
him.
~ one A _ "Why," would reply the humorist,
ad fi h T, at Eton Arthur Wellesley andlh a g t, and he b
his second battle, and his firsteat me soundly." That was
a boy to thrash at Eton, victory ; but then he had
a girl at Brynkinalt. while his contest was with a
A comical story has been related by the Examiner
about the Duke when an Eton scholar having, together
with Lord Wellesley and Lord Maryborough, "hocus-

sed" Lady Dungannon while spending their holidays
with her in Shropshire, their statement being (with
grave faces) that their sister Anne had eloped with a
footman. The intelligence, of course fictitious, shocked
Lady Dungannon most dreadfully. They entreated her,
however, that she would not mention the circumstance
to any one, hoping, as they said, that their sister might
come back again. Lady Dungannon now excused her-
self, having promised to pay a visit to lab'. neighbour,
Mrs. Mytton, and unable to keep this secret, of course
told it to her. On her return, she nearly killed them by
saying, " Ah, my dear boys, ill news travels apace !
Will you believe me ? Mrs. Mytton knew all about poor
Anne !"

After remaining but for a brief interval at Eton, and
being removed thence for a still shorter period for pri-
vate instruction at Brighton, the future warrior was
taken abroad by his mother Lady Mornington. As yet
he had displayed no sort of intellectual superiority—
being a child but of "ordinary" parts, and according to
some, of even less than ordinary. His slight and almost
imperceptible advance in the acquisition of knowledge is
described indeed as having been the source of much
solicitude to the Countess. To this anxiety, in fact, has
been attributed his rapid removals from Chelsea to Eton,
from Eton to Brighton, and from Brighton to Angers—
at the military academy in which latter place it has
been, nevertheless, remarked by one writer, that the boy
was dropped, as his mother passed through France, for
the simple reason that she found him " troublesome in the
carriage." However this may be, at Angers, although he
acquired there no reputation for ability, Arthur Wellesley,
continued to store up an abundance of valuable and ser-
viceable information, obtaining a perfect familiarity with
the French language, and advancing prodigiously in the
study of engineering, under the guidance of the very able
director of the seminary, Pignerol.
Scarcely six years were thus occupied in the toils of
education, when, after his absence at Angers, our hero
returned to England ; and it is related of the Countess
of Mornington that she' first recognized her son in the
little theatre in the Haymarket, after their two years'
separation, by exclaiming—" I do believe there is my
ugly boy Arthur."