Page:The lives of the poets of Great Britain and Ireland to the time of Dean Swift - Volume 4.djvu/314

304 Worceſter, and acknowledged by her as a legitimate ſon. We chuſe to mention this circumſtance, in order to wipe off the aſperſion which folly and ignorance call upon his birth.

In honour to Mr. Smith it ſhould be remembered, that when he ſtood a candidate for one of the univerſities, at the Weſtminſter election, he ſo peculiarly diſtinguiſhed himſelf by his conſpicuous performances, that there aroſe no ſmall contention between the repreſentative elcecors of Trinity-College in Cambridge, and Chriſt-Church College in Oxon, which of thoſe two illuſtrious ſocieties ſhould adopt him as their own. But the electors of Trinity-College having the preference of choice that year, they reſolutely elected him; but being invited at the ſame time to Chriſt-Church, Mr. Smith choſe to accept of a ſtudentſhip there.

He paſſed through the exerciſes of the college, and the univerſity, with unuſual applauſe; and tho’ he often ſuffered his friends to call him off from his retirement; yet his return to his ſtudies was ſo much the more paſſionate, and his love of reading and thinking being ſo vehement, the habit grew upon him, and the ſeries of meditation and reflexion being kept up whole weeks together, he could better arrange his ideas, and take in ſundry parts of a ſcience at one view, without interruption or confuſion. Some of his acquaintance, who were pleaſed to diſtinguiſh between the wit and the ſcholar, extoll’d him altogether on account of the firſt of theſe excellencies; but others, who were more candid, admired him as a prodigy in both. He had acquired reputation in the ſchools, both as a philoſopher and polemic of extenſive knowledge, and deep penetration, and went through all the courſes with a proper regard to the dignity, and importance of each ſcience. Mr.