his birth and
breeding; but it was probably more from his inborn hatred of tyranny
than from the former reason, that he utterly refused to "fag" for the
older boys, and in this way got himself at once into trouble in the
school. Neither the cruel vituperation of his fellows nor menaces of
punishment upon the part of his superiors could bend his will to an
obedience which could only be yielded at the expense of self-respect. He
was soon withdrawn from Eton, and was afterwards sent to Oxford. Here
his first great enthusiasm was for chemistry; and the appearance of his
room is thus described by a fellow-student:--

"Books, boots, papers, shoes, philosophical instruments, clothes,
pistols, linen, crockery, ammunition, and phials innumerable, with
money, stockings, paints, crucibles, bags, and boxes, were
scattered on the floor and in every place; as if the young chemist,
in order to analyze the mystery of creation, had endeavored first
to reconstruct the primeval chaos. The tables, and especially the
carpet, were already stained with large spots of various hues,
which frequently proclaimed the agency of fire. An electrical
machine, an air-pump, the galvanic trough, a solar microscope, and
large glass jars were conspicuous amidst the mass of matter. More
than one hole in the carpet could elucidate the ultimate phenomena
of combustion,--especially a formidable aperture in the middle of
the room, where the floor had also been burned by spontaneous
combustion; and the horrible wound was speedily enlarged by
rents,--for the philosopher as he hastily crossed the room in
pursuit of truth, was frequently caught in it by the foot."

No student ever read more assiduously than he; and one of his chums said
to him, after he had literally read all day:--

"If I read as long as you read, Shelley, my hair and my teeth would
be strewed about on the floor, and my eyes would slip down into my
waistcoat pockets."

It was only by attracting his attention by some extravagance that he
could be drawn away from his books. He seldom stopped to take a regular
meal, but would have his pockets stuffed with bread, from which he ate
from time to time, anywhere he chanced to be. When he was walking in
London he would suddenly run into a baker's shop, purchase a supply, and
breaking a loaf, offer half of it to his companion; if it was refused he
would wonder