latives and friends, he had no choice
but to enter upon the work allotted to him. This he did sullenly and
with no enthusiasm. How painful was even this perfunctory
performance; how keenly he felt the degradation--for such he deemed
it--may be judged from the fact recorded by his contemporaries and
accepted by the world, that for a long time he held aloof from his
companions and his superiors. These in their turn ceased after a time
to notice a young man so resolute to shun them. And although with
time came an approach to intercourse, there never was cordiality. It
is doubtful, however, whether in this description there has not
mingled more than a grain of exaggeration. We have been told of his
wayward nature: we have read how he insulted a superior functionary,
and when ordered by the Governor to apologize, complied with the
worst possible grace: how, when the pacified superior, wishing to
heal the breach, asked him to dinner, he refused with the words that
although the Governor had ordered him to apologize, he did not
command him to dine with him: how, one day, weary of his monotonous
existence, and suffering from impecuniosity, he twice snapped a
loaded pistol at his head; how, on both occasions, there was a
misfire; how, shortly afterwards, a companion, entering the room, at
Clive's request pointed the pistol outside the window and pulled the
trigger; how the powder ignited, and how then Clive, jumping to his
feet, exclaimed, 'I feel I am reserved for better things.'

{14}These stories have been told with an iteration which would seem
to stamp them as beyond contradiction. But the publication of Mr.
Forrest's records of the Madras Presidency (1890) presents a view
altogether different. The reader must understand that the Board at
Fort St. David--at that time the ruling Board in the Madras
Presidency--is reporting, for transmission to Europe, an account of a
complaint of assault made by the Rev. Mr. Fordyce against Clive.

It would appear from this that Mr. Fordyce was a coward and a bully,
besides being in many other respects an utterly unfit member of
society. It had come to Clive's ears that this man had said of him,
in the presence of others, that he, Clive, was a coward and a
scoundrel; that the reverend gentleman had shaken his cane over him
in the presence of Mr. Levy Moses; and had told Captain Cope that he
would break every bone in his (Clive's) skin. In his deposition Clive
stated that these repeated abus