The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1853-08-03
Early Literary Training-Testimony Of
MIR. Maoaulay.

We transfer to our columns, with pleas
ure, the following extract from n speech
recently delivered in parliament by Mr..
MAcAuLAY 1t is in reply to position
taken by Lord ELLENBonouon in the
House of Lords, that university cduca-
ton units men for the management oil
affairs
/ must say il seems to me that there
never was fact better proved by an i'm.
mcnsc mass of evidence, by an expert.
cnce almost UNMARRIED, than is--that
men who distinguish themselves in their
youth above their contemporaries In n
cadcmic competition. almost always keep
to the end Of their lives the start they
have gained in the earlier part of their
career. This experience is so vast that
| should as soon expect to hear any ono
question il MS to hear it denied that ar
scnic is poison, or that brandy is intoxi.
eating Take the very simplest Take
down in any library the Cambridge Ca.
lendar. There you have the list of hon
ors for u hundred years Look at the
list of wranglcrs, and of junior optimcs,
and will venture to say, that for one
man who has in after life distinguished
himself among the junior optimcs, you
will find twenty wranglcrs. Take the
Oxford Calendar look at the list Of first
class mcn, and compare them with an
equal number of mon in the third class,
and say in which list you find the MAJ
GRITTY of men who have distinguished
themselves in after life. But is not our
history full of instances which prove this
fact ? Hear, hear Look at tire church,
the armament, or the bar Look to
the Parliamentary government in this
country-from the days of Montagu and
st. John to those of Canning and Peel.
You need not stop there, but come down
to the time of Lord Derby, aud my right
honorable friend the Chancellor of the
Exchcquer. Hear, hear. Has it not
always been the case, that the men who
were first in tho competition of the
schools have been the first in the com
petition of life Hear, hear.] Look
also to India. The ablcst man who ever
governed India was Warren Hastings,
and was he not in the first at West
minister ? [Chcers] The ablcst civil
servant | ever knew IN India was Sir
Charles Mctcalfc. and was he not man
of the first standing at Elton ? The most
distinguish member of the aristocracy
who ever governed India was Lord Wei
lesley. What was his Eton reputaton2
What was his Oxford reputation Hear,
hear, hear. But | must mention. nj
cannot refrain from neutrality-suspicious.
noble and distinguished Governor Cen
oral. A few days ago. while the memory
of the speech to which I have alluded
was still fresh in my mind, I read in the
MusD Contingencies very eloquent
and classical ode, which the University
of Cambridge rewarded with gold med
al. The subject was the departure of
the House of Braganza from Portugal
for Brazil. The young poet, who was
then only II, described in Il very Hora-
tian language and versifcation the de-
parturc of the fleet, and pictured the
great Portuguese navigator, Vasco dc
Cana and the great Portuguese poet,
Camoens, lowering over the armament
which was to convey the fortunes of the
Portuguese monarch to a new hemis-
pherc and with pleasure, not altogether
unmugled with pain, ] read at the bot
tom Of that composition the name of
Hon. Edward Law, of St. Johns Col
legc must say | saw with considera-
bic pleasure that the name of Lord Ell
lcnborough may be added to the long
list of these distinguished men who, in
carly youth, have, by eminent academicnl
success, given an augury of the distin-
guished part which they we're afterwards
to play and l could not but feel some
concern and some surprise, that noble
man so honorably distinguished in his
youth by attention to those studies
should, in this maturer years, have des-
cendcd to use language respecting them
which think would have better become
the lips of Ensign Northerton, or the
captain in Swift's poem, who says
" Your Novcds and Dluturchs, and omurs
and stuff
By George, they don't signify this pinch OF
snuff;
To give young gentleman right education,
The army's the only good school in the
nation."
Laughter The noble lord seemed from
his speech, to entertain that opinion. A
laugh.
" Ny schoolmaster called me Ounce and =
fool
But at cuffs vas always the cock of tho
school"
Loud laug htcr
But if recollection of his own early
academical triumphs did not restrain til,
noble Earl from using this language,
should have thought that his tilial picty
would have had that effect. | should
have thought that be would have remem
bered how eminently splendid was the
academical career Of that great ano
strong-minded magistrate tho late Lore
Peterborough and, as have mentioned
hun, ! will say, that if there be in Thu
world trying test of the fitness Of mel
for tho competition Of active life, and o
tho strength and acuteness Of their prac
teal faculties, il is to BIO found in tn
contests Of the English bar Look Il
Lord Mansfield, Lord Eldon, Lord Stow
ell, Sir Weary Gibbs, Lord Tenterdol
and Lord Lyndhurst. Take either tn
common law or tho equity bar. Tn
present Lord chief Baron ~was senio
wrangler; Mr.. Baron Anderson was scnio
wranglcr Mr.. Justice Maule was senio
wranglor Mr.. Baron Parko was emi
nently distinguished at the university 70