ulse of misapplied loyalty, and in obedience to a
mistaken sense of duty, went headlong to their ruin, for a prince who
was a Papist, and thus would have been, like his father, a most
hazardous sovereign to the liberties and religion of England.

In allusion to his collegiate career, he describes himself as having
taken up every successive subject, with an ardour which, however,
speedily declined.

"First, I was greatly taken with natural philosophy, which, while I
should have given my mind to logic, employed me incessantly, (logic
forming a principal part of the first year's studies.) This I call my
_furor mathematicus_. But this worked off as soon as I began to read
it in the college. This threw me back to logic and metaphysics. Here I
remained a good while, and with much pleasure, and this was my _furor
logicus_--a disease very common in the days of ignorance, and very
uncommon in these enlightened times. Next succeeded the _furor
historicus_, which also had its day, but is now no more, being
absorbed in the _furor poeticus_, which (as skilful physicians assure
me) is difficultly cured. But doctors differ, and I don't despair of a
cure." Fortunately, he at last accomplished that cure, for his early
poetry gives no indications of future excellence. His prose is much
more poetic, even in those early letters, than his verse. A great poet
unquestionably is a great man; but Burke's greatness was to be
achieved in another sphere. It is only in the visions of prophecy that
we see the Lion with wings. Burke entered his name at the Middle
Temple in April 1747, and went to London to keep his terms in 1750. He
was now twenty-two years old, and his constitution being delicate, and
apparently consumptive, he adopted, during this period of his
residence in England, a habit to which he probably owed his strength
of constitution in after-life. During the vacations, he spent his time
in travelling about England, generally in company with a friend and
relative, Mr William Burke. Though his finances were by no means
narrow--his father being a man of success in his profession--Burke
probably travelled the greater part of those journeys on foot. When he
found an agreeable country town or village, he fixed his quarters
there, leading a regular life, rising early, taking frequent exercise,
and employing himself according to the inclinations of the hour. There
could be no wiser use of his leisure; exercise of the frame is health
of the mi