"*
*Marmion.
At other times Walter listened to the stories of his grandmother,
hearing all about the wild doings of his forbears, or the brave
deeds of Bruce and Wallace. He was taken to the seaside, to
Bath, and to London, and at length, grown into a sturdy little
boy, though still lame, he went back to his father's house in
Edinburgh. Here he says he soon felt the change from being a
single indulged brat, to becoming the member of a large family.
He now went to school, but did not show himself to be very
clever. He was not a dunce, but an "incorrigibly idle imp," and
in spite of his lameness he was better at games than at lessons.
In some ways, owing to his idleness, he was behind his fellows,
on the other hand he had read far more than they. And now he
read everything he could, in season and out of season. Pope's
Homer, Shakespeare, Ossian, and especially Spenser were among his
favorites. Then one happy day he came upon a volume of Percy's
Reliques. All one summer day he read and read, forgetting the
world, forgetting even to be hungry.
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