Book contents
- Frontmatter
- PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION
- Contents
- CHAPTER I PARENTAGE AND CHILDHOOD. 1809–1819
- CHAPTER II AT SCHOOL AND COLLEGE. 1820–1829
- CHAPTER III STUDENT LIFE IN GÖTTINGEN. 1829
- CHAPTER IV STUDENT LIFE IN BERLIN. 1829–1830
- CHAPTER V ROME. 1830–1831
- CHAPTER VI END OF WANDERJAHRE. 1831–1832
- CHAPTER VII YEARS OF STRUGGLE. 1832–1837
- CHAPTER VIII THE TEST ACTS. 1837–1840
- CHAPTER IX INSTALLATION AND MARRIAGE. 1841–1842
- CHAPTER X ABERDEEN AND UNIVERSITY REFORM. 1842–1850
- CHAPTER XI ‘ÆSCHYLUS’ AND THE GREEK CHAIR. 1850–1852
- CHAPTER XII EDINBURGH. 1852–1857
- CHAPTER XIII LAYS, LECTURES, AND LYRICS. 1857–1860
- CHAPTER XIV HOMER. 1861–1866
- CHAPTER XV THE HIGHLANDS AND ISLANDS. 1866–1870
- CHAPTER XVI PILGRIM YEARS. 1870–1872
- CHAPTER XVII ‘SELF-CULTURE.’ 1873–1874
- CHAPTER XVIII THE CELTIC CHAIR. 1875–1876
- CHAPTER XIX EGYPT. 1876–1879
- CHAPTER XX RETIREMENT FROM THE GREEK CHAIR. 1880–1882
- CHAPTER XXI CLASS-ROOM AND PLATFORM. 1841–1882
- CHAPTER XXII RECREATIONS OF AN EMERITUS PROFESSOR. 1882–1887
- CHAPTER XXIII “LIVING GREEK.” 1888–1891
- CHAPTER XXIV CLOSING YEARS. 1892–1895
- INDEX
CHAPTER II - AT SCHOOL AND COLLEGE. 1820–1829
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 October 2010
- Frontmatter
- PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION
- Contents
- CHAPTER I PARENTAGE AND CHILDHOOD. 1809–1819
- CHAPTER II AT SCHOOL AND COLLEGE. 1820–1829
- CHAPTER III STUDENT LIFE IN GÖTTINGEN. 1829
- CHAPTER IV STUDENT LIFE IN BERLIN. 1829–1830
- CHAPTER V ROME. 1830–1831
- CHAPTER VI END OF WANDERJAHRE. 1831–1832
- CHAPTER VII YEARS OF STRUGGLE. 1832–1837
- CHAPTER VIII THE TEST ACTS. 1837–1840
- CHAPTER IX INSTALLATION AND MARRIAGE. 1841–1842
- CHAPTER X ABERDEEN AND UNIVERSITY REFORM. 1842–1850
- CHAPTER XI ‘ÆSCHYLUS’ AND THE GREEK CHAIR. 1850–1852
- CHAPTER XII EDINBURGH. 1852–1857
- CHAPTER XIII LAYS, LECTURES, AND LYRICS. 1857–1860
- CHAPTER XIV HOMER. 1861–1866
- CHAPTER XV THE HIGHLANDS AND ISLANDS. 1866–1870
- CHAPTER XVI PILGRIM YEARS. 1870–1872
- CHAPTER XVII ‘SELF-CULTURE.’ 1873–1874
- CHAPTER XVIII THE CELTIC CHAIR. 1875–1876
- CHAPTER XIX EGYPT. 1876–1879
- CHAPTER XX RETIREMENT FROM THE GREEK CHAIR. 1880–1882
- CHAPTER XXI CLASS-ROOM AND PLATFORM. 1841–1882
- CHAPTER XXII RECREATIONS OF AN EMERITUS PROFESSOR. 1882–1887
- CHAPTER XXIII “LIVING GREEK.” 1888–1891
- CHAPTER XXIV CLOSING YEARS. 1892–1895
- INDEX
Summary
I might wish to retain for ever the mixed elements of youth and manhood that belong to middle age,—to the season between twenty and forty,—but I never could seriously desire to have been eternally a boy. A boy is a fruitful thing for a thoughtful spectator to contemplate, but a somewhat barren and a very imperfect thing to be. However, I was quite happy in my boyhood in the measure that happiness belongs to that age, and have not a single memorial sorrow to recall. At school I got my lessons carefully, kept at the top of my class, or quite close to it, and enjoyed peg-tops, marbles, “Robbers and Rangers,” and other sports in their season, with that healthy gusto that belongs to all normally constituted British boys. I got my lessons carefully, but I cannot say that this proceeded from any particular love either of books or lessons. I imagine it was merely from the natural energy of my character, with an ambitious impulse that did not like to be last, where there was a fair chance of being first. I was put into a little world—the school where action was the law, and it was contrary to my nature to be lazy or to be last. I was called upon to act for honour and glory with my equals, and I did my best with decision. That was the whole secret of my school activity.
So wrote the Professor when his hair was white, and, to some extent, his retrospective estimate of the ten-years'-old schoolboy may have weight with us.
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- John Stuart BlackieA Biography, pp. 12 - 31Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010