602 CARUOTS AND THEIB. CONSEQUENCES. 



anxious to elicit something from " the new boy." My replies were 

 short and surly, and soon drew on me the attention of him who was 

 considered in the school " the wag" par excellence. He was a short, 

 sturdy fellow, with a round, bullet head, a pug nose, and small spark- 

 ling grey eyes, which twinkled with wit and impudence. " Oh, ho !" 

 said he, " we've caught a fox, eh ? Let's see if hell show fight when 

 he's hunted. If I don't burn my fingers I'll have a pull at his brush .'" 

 So saying, he caught hold of me by the hair, and giving a violent jerk, 

 pulled me forward into the midst of the ring. I was not, as I have 

 already .observed, remarkable for patience: I clenched my fist, and 

 struck him in the face ; the blow was returned, and in an instant I 

 found myself involved in a fierce battle, which was, however, speedily 

 ended, by the interference of the usher, but not before I had received 

 convincing proofs that my antagonist was a bruiser as well as a wit. 

 Independent of the cuffs I received in this conflict, I acquired 

 from that moment the sobriquet of " the fox ;" by which I was ever 

 afterwards distinguished. For the first month, like the popular Duke 



of Hereford, _'tol b&d I . 



rfriw si fe[ I " I could npt stir> sonj^nov *k> 

 But, like a comet, I was wonder'd at : 

 That boys would tell each other, 'That is ho;' 

 Others would whisper, ' Where? Which is the Fox?' " 



and when the wonder lessened, it brought nothing that was consolatory, 

 for \vhenever a theme for merriment was required, it was only necessary 

 to mention my red head, and what with the gibes cast upon it, and 

 the little equanimity with which I bore them, there was always fun 

 enough at my expence. My name was made the perpetual subject 

 of ridicule, and furnished forth a thousand good sayings, which were 

 attributed to the wag above mentioned. I was taunted with the 

 appellation of " the tinker," because wherever I went, I was said " to 

 carry my furnace about with me." When the weather was cold, the 

 boys would assemble round me, and affect to warm their hands at 

 my perpetual fire; and when it was hot, they laid the change of 

 temperature on my head. I was denominated " the male vestal/' whose 

 flame was never extinct the beacon with an ever-burning light; 

 and when I bathed in company with the other boys, they universally 

 declared that my plunge, like another Phseton, made the waters fire 

 and smoke ! Their modes of annoyance were not confined to mere 

 verbal annotations, but were accompanied by practical efforts of illus- 

 tration. I have been seized upon at night, in the large dormitory 

 in which we slept, and dragged from my own bed, to act as the 

 general warming-pan of the room, by having my arms and legs con- 

 fined, and in that state thrust up and down between the sheets, till 

 my skin was almost rubbed off, and all in defiance of my kicks, 

 tears, threats, and protestations. At other times, if I attempted to 

 stir from my bed-side, where, to avoid this treatment, I often passed 

 half the night in my clothes, till my tormentors were asleep, I was 

 saluted with a volley of shoes, boots, and other missiles, accompanied 

 by loud exclamations of " Put out the lights," " Douse the glim," a 

 nautical phrase, which had been recently imported by the wag, (who 

 came from Portsmouth,) and was therefore in great vogue ; and on more 

 than one occasion, when my adversaries came to close quarters, I was 



