At the age of eight, Balzac was placed as boarder at the College de Vendome, where, through the compression of his dreamy nature by unaccustomed tasks and rules, be soon lapsed into a careless neglect of his duties, and became, in consequence, one of the most fre quently punished pupils in his class. Favored, however, by the tacit connivance of a tutor, he passed most of his time in the library. Science, philosophy, belles-lettres, religion, history, and even dictionaries, he read and inwardly digested, and during the six years that he remained at the school he assimilated the substance of all the books worth reading.