Burke attended school at Ballitore two years; then, at the age of fourteen, he
became a student at Trinity College, Dublin, and remained there five years. At
college he was unsystematic and careless of routine. He seems to have done
pretty much as he pleased, and, however methodical he became in after life, his
study during these five years was rambling and spasmodic. The only definite
knowledge we have of this period is given by Burke himself in letters to his
former friend Richard Shackleton, son of his old schoolmaster. What he did was
done with a zest that at times became a feverish impatience: "First I was
greatly taken with natural philosophy, which, while I should have given my mind
to logic, employed me incessantly. This I call my FUROR MATHEMATICUS." Following
in succession come his FUROR LOGICUS, FUROR HISTORICUS, and FUROR PEOTICUS, each
of which absorbed him for the time being. It would be wrong, however, to think
of Burke as a trifler even in his youth. He read in the library three hours
every day and we may be sure he read as intelligently as eagerly.
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