Page:Memoirs of a Huguenot Family.djvu/57

Rh guiding them as he pleased. A single word of reproof, from him, affected me more than the severe punishments of my former preceptors.

My next step was to the college of Guienne, which was supported by the king, and much resorted to by Protestants.

A great mortification awaited me there; Latin was the only language made use of, and though I was familiar with the best Latin authors, I could not speak it, and found myself unable to follow the lecturers. I did not allow this to discourage me; I was still given to building castles in the air, as in my childhood; in order to make Latin more familiar I resolved to meditate in that language; I forbade my thoughts to clothe themselves in my mother tongue, and thus I succeeded well, and was soon able to reflect upon what I read in Latin, and I could express myself with ease. I also hired a private tutor to assist me in the hours of relaxation, and by these means I could keep pace with the professor. I may say, with truth, that during the two years I remained at college, I spent sixteen hours out of every twenty-four in study.

Fourteen students took the degree of Master of Arts at the same time; I was the second on the list. At the age of twenty-two, I found that five years of hard study had compensated, in some degree, for the previous nine years of negligence.

I am under great obligations to Mr. De la Bussiere for making me what I am, and therefore I feel it is his due to perpetuate the remembrance of his talents amongst my descendants, which I can perhaps do in the best manner by relating something that occurred while I was at college.

His wife died, and he removed to Bourdeaux during my second year there. He was unchanged in his appearance; he