Alexandria Gazette

MONDAY MORNING, APRIL 2, 1860.

(From the N. Y. Spirit of the Times, by Smiles.)

ILLUSTRIOUS DUNCES.

LA CHATTER TON'S BOYS.

An interesting chapter might be written on the subject of Illustrious Dunces—dull boys, but brilliant men. We have room, however, for only a few instances. Pietro di Cortona, the painter, was thought so stupid that he was nicknamed "Ass Head" when a boy; and Tomaso Guidi was generally known as "Heavy Tom." (Masaccio Tommassaccio.) though by diligence he afterwards raised himself to the highest eminence.

Newton, when at school, stood at the bottom of the lowest form but one. The boy above Newton having kicked him, the dunce showed his pluck by challenging him to fight, and beat him. Then he set to work with a will, and determined also to vanquish his antagonist as a scholar, "which he did, rising to the top of his class." Many of our greatest divines have been anything but precocious. Isaac Barrow, when at the Charter House school-house, was notorious chiefly for his strong temper, pugnacious habits, and proverbial idleness as a scholar, and he caused such grief to his parents, that his father used to say that if it pleased God to take from him Isaac, the least promising of them all. Adam Clarke, when a boy, was proclaimed by his father to be a "grievous dunce," though he could roll large stones about. Dean Swift, one of the greatest writers of pure English, was "plucked" at Dublin University, and only obtained his recommendation to Oxford, "speciale gratia." The well known Dr. Chalmers and Dr. Cook, were boys together at the parish school of St. Andrews', and they were found so stupid and mischievous, that the master, irritated beyond measure, dismissed them both as incorrigible dunces.

The brilliant Sheridan showed so little capacity as a boy, that he was presented to a tutor by his mother with the complimentary accompaniment, that he was an incorrigible dunce. Walter Scott was all but a dunce when a boy, always much readier for a "bicker" than apt at his lessons. At the Edinburgh University, Professor Dalzel pronounced upon him the sentence that "Dunce he was, dunce he would remain." Chatterton was returned on his mother's hands as a "fool, of whom nothing could be made."

Burns was a dull boy, good only at athletic exercises. Goldsmith spoke of himself as a plant that flowered late. Alfieri left college as wise as when he entered it, and did not begin the studies by which he distinguished himself, until he had run over half of Europe.

Robt. Clive was a dunce, if not a reprobate, when a youth; but always full of energy, even in badness. His family, glad to get rid of him, shipped him off to Madras; and he lived to lay the foundation of the British power in India. Napoleon and Wellington were both dull boys, not distinguishing themselves in any way at school. Of the former, the Duchess d' Abrantes says, "he has good health, but was in other respects like other boys." John Howard, the philanthropist, was another illustrious dunce, learning next to nothing during the seven years he was at school. Stephenson, as a youth, was distinguished chiefly for his skill at butting and wrestling, and attention to his work.— The brilliant Sir Humphrey Davy was no cleverer than other boys; his teacher, Mr. Davies Gilbert, says of him, "while he was with him, I could not discern the qualities by which he was most distinguished."

Indeed, he himself, in after life, thought it fortunate that he had been left to "enjoy so much idleness" at school. Watt was a dull scholar, notwithstanding the pretty stories told about his precocity; but he was, what was better, patient and perseverant, and it was by that means, and by his carefully cultivated inventiveness, that he was enabled to perfect his steam engine.

What Dr. Arnold said of boys, is equally true of men—that the difference between one boy and another consists not so much in talent, as in energy. Give perseverance, and energy soon becomes habitual. Provided the dunce has persistency and application, he will inevitably head the clever, without these qualities. Slow but sure wins the race. It is perseverance that explains how the position of boys at school is so often reversed in real life; and it is curious to note how some who were then so clever, have since become so common-place; whilst others, dull boys, of whom nothing was expected, slow in their faculties, but sure in their pace, have assumed the position of men.—

The author of this book, when a boy, stood in the same class with one of the greatest dunces. One teacher after another had tried his skill upon him and failed. Corporal punishment, fool's cap, coaxing, and earnest entreaty, proved alike fruitless.— Sometimes the experiment was tried of putting him at the top of his class, and it was curious to note the rapidity with which he gravitated to the inevitable bottom, like a lump passing through quicksilver. The youth was given up by many teachers as an incorrigible dunce—one of them pronouncing him to be a stupendous booby." Yet, slow though he was, this dunce had a dull energy and sort of a beefy tenacity of purpose, which grew with his muscles and his manhood; and, strange to say, when he at length came to take his part in the practical business of life, he was found heading most of his school companions, and eventually left the greater number of them far behind.

The tortoise in the right road, will beat a racer in the wrong. It matters not though a youth be slow, if he is but diligent.— Quickness of parts may even prove a defect, inasmuch as the boy who learns readily, will often forget quite as readily; and also because he finds no need of cultivating that quality of application and perseverance which the slower youth is compelled to exercise, and which proves so valuable an element in the formation of every character.—

Davy said, "What I am I have made myself;" and the same holds true universally. The highest culture is not obtained from teachers when at school or college, so much as by our own diligent self-education when we become men. Parents need not to be in too great haste to see their children's talents forced into bloom. Let them watch and wait patiently; letting good example and quiet training do their work, and the rest to Providence. Let them see to it, that the youth is provided, by free exercise of his bodily powers, with a full stock of physical health; set him fairly on the road of self-culture; carefully train his habits of application and perseverance; and, as he grows older, if the right stuff be in him, he will be enabled vigorously and effectually to cultivate himself.

Late Professor of Moral Philosophy at St. Andrews.