He was more careful in his dress than any other boy.
"He was a wide reader and read very fast indeed; how much he assimilated I never could make out.

He was poor at music.
"We thought him a fair scholar but nothing extraordinary.

However, he startled everyone the last year at school in the classical medal examination, by walking easily away from us all in the _viva voce_ of the Greek play ('The Agamemnon')." I may now try and accentuate a trait or two of these photographs, so to speak, and then realise the whole portrait by adding an account given to me by Oscar himself.

The joy in humorous romancing and the sweetness of temper recorded by Sir Edward Sullivan were marked traits in Oscar's character all through his life.

His care in dressing too, and his delight in stately editions; his love of literature "with a special leaning to poetry" were all qualities which distinguished him to the end.
"Until the last year of my school life at Portora," he said to me once, "I had nothing like the reputation of my brother Willie.