his earlier years — to the kindly St. Andrews of his uncle's home — to the sea-blown links where he had mastered the mysteries of 'dormy,' of 'stimey,' of 'foursome,' of 'the honour,' to the buoyant waters of the northern sea, where he had become an expert swimmer, he returned, as will be seen, with delight, when on furlough twenty years later. But of the study at Hampstead he retained little but painful recollections. Fortunately, he had near relatives in London, whom he visited in the holidays, and who kept an occasional eye on the lad.
He entered Haileybury in 1823. Among his contemporaries were Sir Frederick Halliday, the late Sir Robert Hamilton, Sir Charles Trevelyan, Sir Henry Ricketts, and Martin Gubbins. 'I was a man of many acquaintances,' he wrote in later years, 'and somewhat gadding and social habits; all my work being done at night. You may do a good deal at Haileybury if you set yourself to it steadily,' he added; writing doubtless from his own experience. He passed out of Haileybury in 1825 at the head of his term, carrying off the honours of his year in classics and mathematics; though in Persian, a language in which he became afterwards proficient, he seems to have met with no marked success. He sailed to India in the 'Clyde' in October, 1825, reaching it on March 9, 1826. His father had left Calcutta shortly before John Colvin sailed from England. Passing rapidly through the College of Fort William, where he distinguished himself in Persian,
