Had he not taken I don't know how
many University Scholarships in his freshman's year? Had he not been
afterwards Senior Wrangler, First Chancellor's Medallist and I do not
know how many more things besides? And then, he was such a wonderful
speaker; at the Union Debating Club he had been without a rival, and had,
of course, been president; his moral character,--a point on which so many
geniuses were weak--was absolutely irreproachable; foremost of all,
however, among his many great qualities, and perhaps more remarkable even
than his genius was what biographers have called "the simple-minded and
child-like earnestness of his character," an earnestness which might be
perceived by the solemnity with which he spoke even about trifles. It is
hardly necessary to say he was on the Liberal side in politics.
His personal appearance was not particularly prepossessing. He was about
the middle height, portly, and had a couple of fierce grey eyes, that
flashed fire from beneath a pair of great bushy beetling eyebrows and
overawed all who came near him. It was in respect of his personal
appearance, however, that, if he was vulnerable at all, his weak place
was to be found.
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