Page:Vivian Grey, Volume 1.djvu/28

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VIVIAN GREY.

verses were unlike any thing which had yet appeared in the Literary Annals of Burnsley Vicarage, and that which was quite novel was

naturally thought quite excellent. There is no place in the world where greater homage is paid to talent than at an English school. At a public school, indeed, if a youth of great talents is blessed with an amiable and generous disposition, he ought not to envy the minister of England. If any captain of Eton, or præfect of Winchester, is reading these pages, I would most earnestly entreat him dispassionately to consider, in what situation of life he can rationally expect that it will be in his power to exercise such influence, to have such opportunities of obliging others, and be so confident of an affectionate and grateful return. Aye, there 's the rub!—Bitter, bitter thought! that gratitude should cease the moment we become men.

And sure I am, that Vivian Grey was loved