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
Dalzell pronounced upon him the sentence that "Dunce he was, and
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 no wiser than
he entered it, and did not begin the studies by which he
distinguished himself, until he had run half over Europe. Robert
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 foundations
of the British power in India. Napoleon and Wellington were both
dull boys, not distinguishing themselves in any way at school. {33}
Of the former the Duchess d'Abrantes says, "he had good health, but
was in other respects like other boys."
Ulysses Grant, the Commander-in-Chief of the United States, was
called "Useless Grant" by his mother--he was so dull and unhandy
when a boy; and Stonewall Jackson, Lee's greatest lieutenant, was,
in his youth, chiefly noted for his slowness.
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