It was at Oxford that he first developed
that passion for self-discipline which afterwards distinguished him.
He took up rowing; and, though thoroughly unsuited by nature to this
pastime, secured himself a place in his College 'torpid.' At the end of
a race he was usually supported from his stretcher in a state of
extreme extenuation, due to having pulled the last quarter of the course
entirely with his spirit. The same craving for self-discipline guided
him in the choice of Schools; he went out in 'Greats,' for which, owing
to his indifferent mastery of Greek and Latin, he was the least fitted.
With enormous labour he took a very good degree. He carried off besides,
the highest distinctions of the University for English Essays. The
ordinary circles of College life knew nothing of him. Not once in the
whole course of his University career, was he the better for wine. He,
did not hunt; he never talked of women, and none talked of women in his
presence. But now and then he was visited by those gusts which come to
the ascetic, when all life seemed suddenly caught up and devoured by a
flame burning night and day, and going out mercifully, he knew not why,
like a blown candle. However unsocial in the proper sense of the word,
he by no means lacked company in these Oxford days. He knew many, both
dons and undergraduates.
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