Handsome, merry and clever, he read novels in school hours, wore a
ring, and set up as a dandy. Even then he was in love with the
young lady whom he married in the end. At a fight with boys of
another school, he and a friend placed a mine under the ground
occupied by the enemy, and blew them, more or less, into the air.
Many an eyebrow was singed off on that fatal day, when, for the only
time, this romancer of the wars "smelled powder." He afterwards
pleaded for his party before the worthy police magistrate, and
showed great promise as a barrister. At Trinity College, Dublin, he
was full of his fun, made ballads, sang them through the streets in
disguise (like Fergusson, the Scottish poet), and one night
collected thirty shillings in coppers.
The original of Frank Webber, in "Charles O'Malley," was a chum of
his, and he took part in the wonderful practical jokes which he has
made immortal in that novel.
From Trinity College, Dublin, Lever went to Gottingen, where he
found fun and fighting enough among the German students. From that
hour he became a citizen of the world, or, at least, of Europe, and
perhaps, like the prophets, was most honoured when out of his own
country. He returned to Dublin and took his degree in medicine,
after playing a famous practical joke. A certain medical professor
was wont to lecture in bed. One night he left town unexpectedly.
Lever, by chance, came early to lecture, found the Professor absent,
slipped into his bed, put on his nightcap, and took the class
himself.
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