Transcriber's note: Spelling and punctuation are sometimes erratic. A few obvious misprints have been corrected, but in general the original spelling and typesetting conventions have been retained. Accents in foreign language phrases are inconsistent, and have not been standardised. Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_). Small capital text has been replaced with all capitals. BLACKWOOD'S EDINBURGH MAGAZINE. NO. CCCXCI. MAY, 1848. VOL. LXIII. CONTENTS. THE CAXTONS. Part II. 525 EDUCATION IN WALES 540 THE SILVER CROSS 564 HEIGH-HO! 572 REPUBLICAN PARIS--(March, April, 1848,) 573 THE SPANIARD IN SICILY 589 CRIMES AND REMARKABLE TRIALS IN SCOTLAND. KIDNAPPING--PETER WILLIAMSON'S CASE 607 THE REPEALER'S WISH GRANTED 627 THE LAST WALK. BY B. SIMMONS 629 MAN IS A FEATHERLESS BIPED 631 THE REVOLUTIONS IN EUROPE 638 EDINBURGH: WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS, 45, GEORGE STREET; AND 37, PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON. _To whom all Communications (post paid) must be addressed._ SOLD BY ALL THE BOOKSELLERS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM. PRINTED BY WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS, EDINBURGH. THE CAXTONS.--PART II. CHAPTER VII. When I had reached the age of twelve, I had got to the head of the preparatory school to which I had been sent. And having thus exhausted all the oxygen of learning in that little receiver, my parents looked out for a wider range for my inspirations. During the last two years in which I had been at school, my love for study had returned; but it was a vigorous, wakeful, undreamy love, stimulated by competition, and animated by the practical desire to excel. My father no longer sought to curb my intellectual aspirings. He had too great a reverence for scholarship not to wish me to become a scholar if possible; though he more than once said to me somewhat sadly, "Master books, but do not let them master you. Read to live, not live to read. One slave of the lamp is enough for a household; my servitude must not be a hereditary bondage." My father looked round for a suitable academy; and the fame of Dr Herman's "Philhellenic Institute" came to his ears.