In the year 1795, during one of his visits to Cambridge, Dr. Paley, in
the course of a conversation on the subject, gave the following
account of the early part of his own academical life; and it is here
given on the authority and in the very words of a gentleman who was
present at the time, as a striking instance of the peculiar frankness
with which he was in the habit of relating adventures of his youth. "I
spent the two first years of my under-graduateship (said he) happily,
but unprofitably. I was constantly in society where we were not
immoral, but idle and rather expensive. At the commencement of my
third year, however, after having left the usual party at rather a
late hour in the evening, I was awakened at five in the morning by one
of my companions, who stood at my bedside and said, 'Paley, I have
been thinking what a d--d fool you are. I could do nothing, probably,
were I to try, and can afford the life I lead: you can do every thing,
and cannot afford it. I have had no sleep during the whole night on
account of these reflections, and am now come solemnly to inform you,
that, if you persist in your indolence, I must renounce your society.'
I was so struck (continued Paley) with the visit and the visiter, that
I lay in bed great part of the day and formed my plan: I ordered my
bed-maker to prepare my fire every evening, in order that it might be
lighted by myself; I rose at five, read during the whole of the day,
except such hours as chapel and hall required, allotting each portion
of time its peculiar branch of study; and, just before the closing of
gates (nine o'clock) I went to a neighbouring coffee-house, where I
constantly regaled upon a mutton-chop and a dose of milk punch: and
thus on taking my bachelor's degree, I became _senior wrangler_." He,
too, filled the trustworthy and dignified office of Tutor of his
College, and deserved, though he did not die in possession of, a
bishopric.
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