with his ears pierced by Taylor's nails, and his dress besmeared with blood. This produced a crisis; and the Taylors for Taylor senior was assisted in the management of the school by his son Colin-were soundly rated by a friend of the family, Mr Aitchison of Drummore. Drummond describes the scene. Writing in September 1807 to his eldest brother, he says:-" Mr Aitchison gave him (Colin Taylor) a terrible scold about partiality, which he told to his father, and Mr Taylor's tongue has never lain. One time when he was speaking, he said, 'I shall be accused of partiality by none.' I have not told you the half of it. At one time we thought he was going out of his senses." But the tortures of the Taylors did not prevent Drummond from enjoying his favourite pastimes at home. In this letter he adds, “We are sailing our ships yet. I am sure you will not sail the Dutch ship any more. My mother and aunt think you might give it to me, and I will give mine to John." After Mr Aitchison's onslaught on the Taylors, Drummond fared better at their hands; but he soon left their establishment, and came under the tuition of more appreciative masters. Professor Jardine, an old friend of Mrs Drummond, spent the summers of 1808 and 1809 at Portobello. He took a fancy to Drummond, and insisted on the lad becoming his pupil during these summer months. In the winters, when the professor returned to Glasgow, Drummond had another tutor provided by his friend Mr Aitchison, Mr Roy. In 1810 he became a resident pupil of Mr Scott, a mathematical teacher at Edinburgh, and in the same year entered the Edinburgh University. Freed from the blighting influences of the Taylors, his intellect quickly ripened, and his genial temperament showed itself to all around him. "John Wilson and your sons," said Professor Jardine to Mrs Drummond, "are the cleverest boys I had ever under my charge." "His knowledge of geometry," wrote Mr Scott in 1812 (Drummond had then been with him two years), "I have never seen equalled in one of his years; and the progress he is now making in the higher branches of mathematics and natural philosophy, is such as might be expected from one who possesses a sound judgment combined with uncommon application." "I have no hesitation," wrote Professor Leslie (whose classes he attended at the University), "in saying that no young man has ever come under my charge with a happier disposition, or more promising talents."2 In 1812 Drummond's school and college days ended. In 1813, favoured by the influence of Mr Aitchison, he became a cadet at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich. Students of biography are sometimes curious to know if the qualities for which in later life a man becomes remarkable, show themselves in early youth. In Drummond's case the child was certainly the father of the man. As a lad, he was of a practical and inquiring turn of mind; affectionate and sympathetic; distressed at suffering; and, in his boyish ways, eager to avenge wrong. There is a story told of how once he watched for days to thrash a boy who had plundered a bird's nest and drowned the little occupants. Mrs Drummond pathetically tells us that "his mild and generous temper often led him to espouse quarrels to help the weaker party-for he was very heroic." He was anxious to know the ins and outs of things; the why and wherefore. Once he made himself miserable because he could not guess why a new roasting jack ticked. At length he undid the jack and got at the secret. At school and college his proficiency was greatest in 1 Letter to Mrs Drummond, November 24, 1812.-M'Lennan. mathematics; his mind was essentially of a scientific bent. Professors Leslie and Barlow testify to his aptitude for scientific studies; and his mathematical exercise books, which have been preserved, bear the marks of their commendation. "Concise;" "Remarkably neat, and ably solved;" "Most curious;" "Most ingenious," are their judgment on his work. Twenty-three years afterwards, when Drummond was drawn into politics, Faraday deplored the loss which science sustained by this departure. CHAPTER II. WOOLWICH. ON October 3, 1812, Drummond wrote to his friend Mr Aitchison : "I feel a strong inclination for the profession of a military engineer. I have studied for these two years those branches preparatory for such a line, and have received a satisfactory certificate from Mr Leslie, professor of mathematics in Edinburgh. Could I only be so fortunate as to obtain a strong recommendation to Lord Mulgrave, I would soon obtain the wished-for appointment." The appointment was obtained, and in February 1813 Drummond went to Woolwich to stand his examination. The examination was fixed for February 24, at eleven o'clock in the morning. Drummond sailed from Leith to Gravesend, reaching Gravesend at 2 A.M. on the day of the examination. He had told the steward the night before to call him early in the morning. The steward forgot the message, and Drummond did not wake until 7 A.M. He reached shore just to hear that the coach had started ten minutes previously. He gave chase to it, running along the road for three miles, but did not overtake it. A return chaise came up and he got into it. The chaise stopped within two miles of Woolwich at twenty minutes to eleven o'clock, eleven being the hour for examination. The driver would go no farther, he wanted to rest his horses. Drummond again started off on foot; ran 1 Then Master of Ordnance. all the way; arrived at the Academy at five minutes to eleven; presented himself for examination; and passed with flying colours. This incident is characteristic of the energy and determination of the man. Through life, what Drummond wanted to do, he did. His days at Woolwich were not happy, though his progress was great. It is doubtful if he had chosen a congenial profession. It is certain that the system at the Academy was irksome and deterrent to study. Drummond did not tell his troubles to his mother lest it might make her unhappy, but he unburdened himself to his aunt, Mrs M'Farlane. DRUMMOND TO HIS AUNT. "ROYAL ARSENAL, March 26, 1813. "MY DEAR AUNT,-You will be greatly surprised, and will, I daresay, sympathise with me when you read this. I have been here now upwards of a month, and from one of my mother's letters I gather you all think I like the place very well. God knows, I never told you this in any of my letters. Now you must promise to keep my mother ignorant of what I am about to tell you. From the moment I entered this place, till the present time, I have been miserable, and what I shall do, I know not. I expected to have seen Mr Aitchison, and to have told him all this, but from some cause I have not seen him; but perhaps he has not left London, and I may yet see him. I trust I may. I have hesitated long with myself whether or not to tell you this, but my situation becoming every day more irksome, at last compels me to write to you; and you are the best person to give me advice, as I should not like my mother to know, she being so unwell. I would give worlds, if I had them, to get my discharge. But when I think of the enormous expense she has been at in sending me here, and how ill she can afford it, added to my |