Young Aubrey was sent to school, and thence to college as a sizar: he obtained several prizes, and took a high degree.

Aubrey was not without the ambition and the passions of youth: he went into the world, ardent, inexperienced, and without a guide.

He drew back before errors grew into crimes, or folly became a habit.

It was nature and affection that reclaimed and saved him from either alternative,--fame or ruin.

His widowed mother was suddenly stricken with disease.