ledge of the languages-Latin, Greek, French, etc.,—which he acquired, the fact that he took several courses of lectures in Spectroscopy, Astro-physics and Electro-optics, with Professor Edmund Whittaker, Sc.D.F.R.S., Royal Astronomer of Ireland, will go to show the wide range of his subjects. It is said that the Astronomer Royal was much impressed with the intellectual vigour with which he interested himself in the most difficult problems of Natural Philosophy.

De Valera is a B.A. and a B.Sc., R.U.I., but Professor William Magennis tells us that his many and varied attainments were not adequately represented by his academic distinctions. He displayed energy and ability in every sphere of life upon which he entered not merely as a student and a teacher, but, as we shall see in a later chapter, as a fighter and politician.

Besides the scholarship de Valera won six exhibitions in his Intermediate and University course with aggregate marks, getting sixth highest in Arts 1. He got second place in Mathematics in Arts 2. His superiority in Mathematics recalls some of Ireland's leaders in the past, particularly Robert Emmet, whose talents lay in the same direction. Emmet entered Trinity College at the age of 16, and at once showed great aptitude for this subject, eclipsing many students of more mature years and longer standing at the college. If we view Emmet and de Valera on the same pedestal a strange likeness presents itself. In scholarship, in eloquence, in patriotism and in love of truth and justice, the soul of one would seem to be mirrored in that of the other. Truth," said Plutarch, "is the greatest good that man can conceive and the goodliest blessing that God can bestow." The man who has not truth and justice for his motto cannot hope for the reward that history metes out: nor can a man lacking these qualities expect more than a temporary triumph in his own generation. This gift of truth and justice seems to have been the controlling passion with all of Ireland's martyrs, and the legacy thus bequeathed is, or ought to be, as sacred to us as the cause for which those heroes died.

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De Valera was extremely successful as a teacher. We have evidence of this not alone in the fact that his services were sought in nearly all the University Colleges in the City of Dublin, but in the distinctions obtained by his pupils. At Holy Cross College, Clonliffe, several members of his matriculation classes were awarded honours in the subjects he taught, one getting the first place. The same student later under his teaching received a first-class scholarship in Mathematical Science and the first place in Mathematics in the first University examination. Speaking of him later, the Very Rev. J. J. Canon Dunne, President of the College, said that his success as a teacher was due to the admirable care, punctuality and zeal with which he devoted himself to the work, as well as to the great knowledge he possessed of the subject matter. He taught successfully at Belvedere College, S.J., and at Rockwell College he had charge of the higher mathematical courses in the Intermediate and University classes. His class at St. Patrick's College, Maynooth, where he temporarily substituted the Rev. Dr. Browne, an able advocate of Sinn Fein, contained many distinguished scholars. At the Dominican College, Eccles Street, Dublin, where he was engaged until the disestablishment of the Royal University, he was, in the words of the Prioress, "punctual, painstaking, and exceptionally lucid in his explanations of the various subjects to his pupils.".

The loss of de Valera to the teaching profession, when called away to fill the highest position in the gift of his country, was immeasurable, and nowhere, perhaps, were his services so seriously missed as at the Training College, Carysfort Park, to which he was attached for a longer period than to any of the other Colleges. Here, as the reader has already learned, he taught mathematics, and his explanations were so clear and so interesting and he was such a perfect master of his subject, that he arrested the attention of one hundred students with the greatest ease. It is interesting to note what Sister M. Malachy, Vice Principal, has to say about him :

"It was our privilege to have Mr. de Valera as Professor of Mathematics in our College from September, 1906 until the week before the Rebellion, after which he did not return. Even while here his worth was manifest and he was thoroughly appreciated by each and all of us. His devotedness to duty and his manly piety were an example to all in the college." It may be of interest to young agriculturists if we give here one of seven problems set by de Valera to first year students at Carysfort Park, in October, 1906 :

One hundred persons combine to buy a cow for £15, each contributing equally. If she yields an average of three gallons of milk per day for seven months (210 days say), the average price of milk during the time being 3d. per quart, what should each contributor receive altogether supposing the cow is sold at the end of seven months for £16, and that fodder, etc., during the time has cost £6. What is the gain per cent., and what rate per cent. per annum interest does each contributor receive? Or our lady readers may be interested in one set to second year students on the same occasion:

"At what price should a jeweller label a bracelet which has cost him ten guineas, if he proposes giving a discount of 20 per cent. for cash and still wishes to gain 20 per cent. ? If it is ten months on his hands before sale, what rate per cent. per annum interest does he receive ?

In addition to his other educational activities de Valera held the posts of Examiner in Mathematics, Intermediate Education Board; Examiner in Irish, Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons; and Examiner in Physics, National University of Ireland. In the whole course of the happy and even flow of his educational career the one and only place in which he found a disturbing feature was Trinity College. The antonym of Sir Edward Grey's "one bright spot" best indicates the position