30 AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 



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 exception 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 ad- 

 mired 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 mas- 

 ters and by my father as a very ordinary boy, rather below 

 the common standard in intellect. To my deep mortification 

 my father once said to me, " You care for nothing but shoot- 

 ing, dogs, and rat-catching, and you will be a disgrace 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 unjust 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 remem- 

 ber 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 Galton) by 

 explaining the principle of the vernier of a barometer. With 

 respect to diversified tastes, independently of science, I was 

 fond of reading various books, and I used to sit for hours 

 reading the historical plays of Shakespeare, generally in an 

 old window in the thick walls of the school. I read also other 

 poetry, such as Thomson's 'Seasons,* and the recently pub- 

 lished poems of Byron and Scott. I mention this because 

 later in life I wholly lost, to my great regret, all pleasure from 

 poetry of any kind, including Shakespeare. In connection 

 with pleasure from poetry, I may add that in 1822 a vivid 

 delight in scenery was first awakened in my mind, during a 



