ch. ii.] BOYHOOD. 9 



tonishing, and seem hardly compatible with what physiolo- 

 gists have, I believe, proved about each thought requiring 

 quite an appreciable amount of time. 



Nothing could have been worse for the development of 

 mv mind than Dr. Butler's school, as it was strictly classi- 

 cal, nothing else being taught, except a little ancient geog- 

 raphy and history. The school as a means of education to 

 me was simply a blank. During my whole life I have been 

 singularly incapable of mastering any language. Especial 

 attention was paid to verse-making, and this I could never 

 do well. I had many friends, and got together a good col- 

 lection of old verses, which by patching together, sometimes 

 aided by other boys, I could work into any subject. Much 

 attention was paid to learning by heart the lessons of the 

 previous day ; this I could effect with great facility, learn- 

 ing forty or fifty lines of Virgil or Homer, whilst I was in 

 morning chapel ; but this exercise was utterly useless, for 

 every verse was forgotten in forty-eight hours. I was not 

 idle, and with the excej)tion of versification, generally worked 

 conscientiously at my classics, not using cribs. The sole 

 pleasure I ever received from such studies, was from some 

 of the odes of Horace, which I admired greatly. 



When I left the school I was for my age neither high 

 nor low in it ; and I believe that I was considered by all my 

 masters and by my father as a very ordinary boy, rather 

 below the common standard in intellect. To my deep mor- 

 tification my father once said to me, " You care for nothing 

 but shooting, dogs, and rat-catching, and you will be a dis- 

 grace to yourself and all your family." But my father, who 

 was the kindest man I ever knew, and whose memory I love 

 with all my heart, must have been angry and somewhat un- 

 just when he used such words. 



Looking back as well as I can at my character during my 

 school life, the only qualities which at this period promised 

 well for the future, were, that I had strong and diversified 

 tastes, much zeal for whatever interested me, and a keen 

 pleasure in understanding any complex subject or thing. I 

 was taught Euclid by a private tutor, and I distinctly re- 

 member the intense satisfaction which the clear geometrical 

 proofs gave me. I remember with equal distinctness the 

 delight which my uncle gave me (the father of Francis Gal- 

 ton) by explaining the principle of the vernier of a barome- 

 ter. With respect to diversified tastes, independently of 

 science, I was fond of reading various books, and I used to 



