Page:Life of the Right Honourable Sir Robert Peel.pdf/3



was born at Bury, on the 6th of February, 1788. His early education was superintended by his father, who kindled the flame of ambition in his breast, by pointing out to him the example of Mr. Pitt, who, when just emerging into manhood, had been appointed to preside over the destinies of the British empire. The great object of the child's desires was to emulate Pitt, and he devoted himself to study with an eagerness and attention which could not fail to ensure success. At the proper age, he was sent to Harrow, where he had Lord Byron for a cotemporary. The noble poet has given the following account of his school-fellow.

"Peel, the orator and statesman (that was, or is, or is to be,) was my form-fellow, and we were both at the top of our remove (a public-school phrase.) We were on good terms; but his brother was my intimate friend. There were always great hopes of Peel amongst us all, masters and scholars, and he has not disappointed them. As a scholar, he was greatly my superior; as a declaimer and actor, I was reckoned at least his equal; as a schoolboy, out of school, I was always in scrapes, and he never. And in school he always knew his lesson, and I rarely; but when I knew it, I knew it nearly as well. In general information, history, &c. I think I was his superior."

On quitting Harrow, he became a gentleman-commoner of Christ Church, Oxford, where he took his degrees with great distinction, having, in 1808, obtained double first class honors, in classics and mathematics.