he received in the household sufficed to prepare him for
entering college when yet a mere child, at eleven years of age. He took
his first degree four years afterwards, in 1801, one year after his
maternal grandfather had returned to Stratford. To that place he very
frequently resorted in his youth, and there, in the well-stored and
well-arranged library he pursued the studies he loved. The tradition is
that he conned his Greek lessons lying flat on the floor with his thumb in
his mouth, and the fingers of the other hand employed in twisting a lock
of the brown, hair on his forehead. He took no pleasure in fishing or in
hunting; I doubt whether he ever let off a fowling-piece or drew a trout
from the brook in his life. He was fond of younger children, and would
recreate himself in play with his little relatives, but was no visitor to
other families. His contemporaries, Washington Irving, James K. Paulding,
and Governeur Kemble, had their amusements and frolics, in which he took
no part. According to Mr. Kemble, the elder men of the time held up to the
youths the example of young Verplanck, so studious and accomplished, and
so ready with every kind of knowledge, and withal of such faultless
habits, as a model for their imitation.

I have said that his relatives on the mother's side were of a different
political school from his high tory grandmother. From them he would hear
of the inalienable rights of the people, and the duty, under certain
circumstances, of revolution; from her he would hear of the obligation of
loyalty and obedience. The Johnsons would speak of the patriotism, the
wisdom, and the services of Franklin; the grandmother of the virtues and
accomplishments of Cornwallis. The boy, of course, had to choose between
these different sides, and he chose the side of his country and of the
people.

I think that I perceive in these circumstances how it was that the mind of
Verplanck was educated to that independence of judgment, and that
self-reliance, which in after life so eminently distinguished it. He never
adopted an opinion for the reason that it had been adopted by another. On
some points--on more, I think, than is usual with most men--he was content
not to decide, but when he formed an opinion it was his own. He had no
hesitation in differing from others if he saw reason; indeed, he sometimes
showed that he rather liked to differ, or chose at least, by questioning
their opinions, to intimate that they were