rming is divine philosophy!
Not harsh and rugged as dull fools suppose,
But musical as is Apollo's lute,
And a perpetual feast of nectared sweets,
Where no crude surfeit reigns."

He studied accurately, yet with appreciation; sometimes the two ways of
study are not combined, and while one man will be content with a cold
and barren estimate of _ge_'s and _pon_'s derived from wading through
the unutterable tedium of interminable German notes, of which the last
always contradicted all the rest; another will content himself with
eviscerating the general meaning of a passage, without any attempt to
feel the finer pulses of emotion, or discriminate the nicer shades of
thought. Eschewing commentators as much as he could, Julian would first
carefully go over a long passage, solely with a view to the clear
comprehension of the author's language, and would then re-read the whole
for the purpose of enjoying and appreciating the thoughts which the
words enshrined; and finally, when he had finished a book or a poem,
would run through it again as a whole, with all the glow and enthusiasm
of a perfect comprehension.

Sometimes Kennedy, or Owen, or Lord De Vayne, would read with him. This
was always in lighter and easier authors, read chiefly for practice, and
for the sake of the poetry or the story, which lent them their
attraction. It was necessary to pursue in solitude all the severer
paths of study; but he found these evenings, spent at once in society
and yet over books, full both of profit and enjoyment. Lillyston,
although not a first-rate classic, often formed one of the party; Owen
and Julian contributed the requisite scholarship and the accurate
knowledge, while Lillyston and De Vayne would often throw out some
literary illustration or historical parallel, and Kennedy gave life and
brightness to them all, by the flow and sparkle of his gaiety and wit.
But it must be admitted that Kennedy was the least studious element in
the party, and was too often the cause of digressions, and conversations
which led them to abandon altogether the immediate object of their
evening's work.

Kennedy had a tendency to idleness, which was developed by the freedom
with which he plunged into society of all kinds. His company was so
agreeable, and his bright young face was so happy an addition to all
parties, that he was in a round of constant engagements--breakfast
parties, wines, supper parties, and dinners--that encroached _far