Excerpt from Poems and Epigrams Nevertheless, he gave proof that lack of education did not in his case mean lack of study, for at the age of seventeen he wrote, in two parts, a treatise on The Principles of Acoustics and the Theory of Sound, a subject little understood, and one which most lads of his age would not of their own accord have cared to master. But if his delicate health in some degree interfered with the usual course of education, it did not altogether account for the fact that the talent for music which he exhibited at an early age was neglected, if not suppressed; for, though allowed to sing without tuition, he was not permitted to learn any instrument. It was a natural consequence of his training, or rather want of training, that when he went to Cambridge, a mathematician at heart, he had to devote himself to classics, in order to pass the necessary examinations; and it also followed, as a natural consequence of his inability to pursue his mathematical studies, that he was classed as a Senior Optime, when his un deniable powers marked him out for a Wrangler. There is little out of the ordinary circle to be recorded of his life at Cambridge. But it may be mentioned that it was there that he wrote and published three curious theological tracts, the two first being an analysis of the miracles of the New Testament, the value of the evidence of which he tested by the theory of chances. These he published under an assumed name, the publi cation being effected through a friend and it was not until that friend's death, many years afterwards, when the tracts themselves had been buried in oblivion, that the publishers accidentally dis covered the real name of the writer. He took his ba. Degree in 1847, his m.a. In 1850, and his LL.D. In 1859. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.