Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 14.djvu/723

Rh, a few miles from Toulouse. The journey occupies four days, and is not without incident. He makes a blunder in choosing the cabriolet of the diligence, and finds himself in low company. At Orleans, a butcher, with the largest belly he had ever seen, came in and kept incessantly smoking. On the third day he is at Limoges, and breakfasts in company with a good-natured gentleman from the interior; but his own company does not much impr-ove; the butcher leaves, but a very dirty fille, with an eruption in her face, keeps up his annoyance. The following day a vacancy occurs in the interior, and he claims it as the passenger of longest standing; a lady contests it with him, and it has to be referred to the maire; the retiring passenger, a young avocat, pleading his case. He is now in good company, and his account of the successive localities is minute and cheerful.

He arrives at his destination at 2, the 2d of June, is received by Mr. George Bentham, and meets the family at breakfast. They take him out for a walk, and he does no work that day, but begins a letter to his father. Next day he makes an excursion to Toulouse, spends the night there, and gives up a second day to sight-seeing; there was a great religious procession that day. He makes the acquaintance of a Dr. Russell, resident at Toulouse, with whose family he afterward associates. The following day, the 5th, he sees the Marquis and Madame de Pompignan, the proprietors of the château. On the 6th, he commences work; and now begins our information as to his mode of allocating his time to study. The entry for this day merely sets forth that he got up early; went into the library; read some of Lucian (who is his chief Greek reading for the weeks to follow); also some of Millot, by Mr. George's advice; "learned a French fable by rote"—the beginning of his practice in French. 7th. "Learned a very long fable; wrote over again, with many improvements, my Dialogue, part I." This dialogue frequently comes up, but without further explanation. We must take it as one of his exercises in original composition, perhaps in imitation of the Platonic Dialogues. 8th. Engaged with Mr. G. in arranging the books of the library, which seems to have been set as a task to the boys. "Wrote some of dialogue; learned a very long fable by heart; resolved some problems of West (Algebra); did French exercises (translating and so forth)." 9th. "Breakfasted early and went with Sir S. and Lady Bentham in the carriage to Montauban; took a volume of Racine in my pocket, and read two plays;" remark his reading pace. On returning home he reads a comedy of Voltaire. 10th. "Before breakfast, learned another fable, and read some of Virgil. After breakfast, wrote some of my Dialogue, and some French exercises. Wrought some of the Differential Calculus. Read a tragedy of Corneille." 11th. "Learned another fable; finished my Dialogue. If good for nothing beside, it is good as an exercise to my reasoning powers, as well as to my invention, both which it has tried extremely." We may be sure that it aimed at something very high. "Wrote some