Page:Biographia Hibernica volume 2.djvu/645

 YELVERTON. 641 and Athens were not pronounced there with primaeval elegance; yet, a master of one of those seminaries would puzzle the fellows of a college by his intimacy with a l l their grammatical intricacies, and his promptitude i n com position and construction; and a s t o arithmetic and mathe matics, a l l the science o f Euclid was taught t o perfection, by men, whom, from their appearance, n o man would suspect o f having learned t o spell. There was great similitude i n the fates o f Mr. Yelverton and Mr. Curran. Both moved i n the same hemisphere, though a t a distance o f some dozen years i n their period. They were born i n the same village, both inspired with similar genius and like ardour for education. Both en tered Trinity college a s sizars; both distinguished them selves b y the rapidity o f their acquirements; both obtained scholarships after very short ordeals. Both were called t o the bar, a t which each continued for years i n obscurity, a s both were poor and without connexion; both were ardent patriots, and married wives with little o r n o fortune. But the ultimate success o f both i n their professional pur suits affords a striking lesson o f the n i l desperandum. As great events have often sprung from trivial causes; s o the destination o f Mr. Yelverton t o the study o f the law, i s said t o have owed i t s origin t o a whimsical inci dent. I t was probably after h e had made some progress a t college, that h e became a tutor i n the classical academy kept b y a Doctor Buck, i n North King-street, Dublin, where h e was entertained a t the table a s one o f the family. Mrs. Buck was a rigid economist, a scrupulous saver o f farthings, and claimed the privilege o f ruling the roast i n household arrangements. She took a fancy o f extending her system o f retrenchments t o the breakfast table; where, although she considered toast, tea, fresh eggs, and cold ham, very necessary t o the comforts o f herself and the doctor, they were, she thought, too expensive f o r half a dozen hungry tutors, who might very well breakfast with the pupils o n bread and milk. The arrangement was accordingly adopted; but Mr. Yelverton, who was head WOL. 11. TT