Trinity
College
Thomas
was 17 when he entered Trinity College on July 4th, 1831.
Trinity
College, according to Gavan Duffy was "the Amphitheatre where young
athletes were trained to defend Protestant ascendancy" and it has
"always reared passionate Nationalists. There is scarcely a man
distinguished as an opponent of British Supremacy, from Jonathan Swift
to Isaac Butt, who was not educated in that institution. In 1793, two
of it's Graduates Robert Emmet and Wolfe Tone taught nakedly the doctrine,
that the essential basis for Irish liberty was peace and brotherhood
among Protestants and Catholics."
Times
were different in those days, people had time to read, think, talk,
debate and philosophise.
Trinity
College had in it's employment at that time a man called Thomas Wallis,
a college tutor, who may have played a role in the developing mind of
Davis. Charles Gavan Duffy says the following in relation to Wallis:
"Wallis's position among his associates bore a not remote resemblance
to Coleridge among the Lake poets. He projected on a prodigious scale,
but he made no attempt to perform what he projected. A thinker who does
not work is not necessarily a wasted force. His talk was full of new,
startling, and often audacious truths; he had the gift of inspiring
thought and awakening feeling, and like his great exemplar, he considered
his function exhausted when he had exhorted a man to do some good work,
without any intention of setting him the example. One of his half scoffing
admirers used to say that if you could work miracles or were willing
to try, and ready to be bullied for having failed, Wallis had a fascinating
series of prodigies at your service. But to the serious mind of Davis
these wild coruscations were like the electric current smiting the dusky
coil of wire."
While
Davis at that time gave no indication of his thoughts and beliefs, his
philosophies, in later years he spoke highly of Wallis. Gavan Duffy
also says "A man of genius commonly attributes an inordinate importance
to the mind which gave his own an impulse at a critical period of development.
Very often it is a mind inferior to his own, but he is slow to perceive
and loth to acknowledge this fact…….Davis had certainly such
a feeling towards Wallis."
Davis
passed through his university years as he had through his early life,
a man who did not stand out because of his words, his debating abilities
or his ideas. He 'hid' amongst his books, he had no use for a professional
'grinder', he read solely for the sake of exercising his mind and training
it to intellectual discipline. He read from a pure thirst for knowledge.He
was considered to be a 'Benthamite, a dumb questioner of authority,
discontented with many things established, but not likely to prove a
formidable opponent'. 'A book in breeches.' He was a member of the Historical
Society and there he 'made no figure. His solid massive talents were
not adapted for the light clever fencing of the wordy disputants.' He
liked the society because he believed that to anything amongst other
young men was better than intellectual stagnation.
This man
who could scarcely learn his letters took his degree in Arts on February
16th, 1836 having achieved honours along the way. The Rev. Samuel Butcher
an examiner said that he had never heard better answering than that
given by Davis.
1838
Daniel
Owen Maddyn wrote the following:
"I first knew Thomas Davis in the early part of the year 1838.
He had a short time previously published a pamphlet on 'The Reform of
the House of Lords' - a subject which in those palmy days of Whig-Radicalism,
attracted much attention. One evening, seated by the side of young Thomas
MacNevin, I saw a short thickset young man, wrapped in a fear-nought
coat, shamble into the room, and speak in a tone between jest and earnest
to several of the members. "That," said MacNevin, "is
Davis." "What! Was it he wrote the pamphlet on Peerage Reform?"
"Ay, yonder you behold the cataract that is to sweep away the House
of Lords." There was something about Davis which I liked at first
sight. There was a frank honesty about his face, and I liked his large
well-opened eyes." - ( MacNevin was known for his sarcasm) Gavin
Duffy says that this particular publication 'was the last incident in
an era of silent meditation'. It is implied by others that this publication
indicates that Davis was not yet a Nationalist.
While
Maddyn tells us that there was a frank honesty about his face, he also
tells us "he was altogether free from affectation of every kind,
and from all personal petty vanity. He had nothing of the showy air
and pretensions of others. No man could be less of a coxcomb. Vanities
of appearance he utterly despised. He really was what he seemed to be."
Charles
Gavan Duffy describes his physical appearance: "He was a man of
middle stature, strongly but not coarsely built, with a complexion which
habitual exercise - for he was a great walker - and habitual temperance
gave a healthy glow. A broad brow and a strong jaw stamped his face
with the character of power, but, except when it was lighted up by thought
or feeling, it was plain and even rugged." (Davis walked for two
hours every day and advised his companions to do the same)
Thomas
Osborne Davis travelled through England and Wales during the years 1838-1840
and little is known of these years, it has been speculated that he spent
some of his time in London with Maddyn, because Maddyn was in London
at that time. It was on his return that the 'new' Davis appeared. We
know from his speeches and essays, that to watch and learn from experience
was of great importance, more important than anything that could be
learned from books. Theory was very well, but the practise and experience
gained by such practise was the 'prime educator of a man.'
