138 THE REV. J. G. WOOD. 



tops to the two upright poles, and three strong boxes to 

 contain the whole, completed the equipment ; and so 

 was supplied a blackboard which was large enough to 

 accommodate a drawing eight feet long by four and 

 a half feet wide, which was fairly portable, and which 

 could be easily erected even upon a narrow platform. 

 And now the lecturing began in earnest. 



First of all it was deemed advisable, in order to 

 obtain an advertisement for the syllabus, that a course 

 of lectures should be delivered at the Polytechnic Insti- 

 tution, an engagement. at which might be looked upon 

 as a sort of " hall-mark " to a lecturer. The prosperity 

 of the building, it is true, was then on the wane, and it 

 did not survive in its original form for much more than 

 a year afterwards. But still it retained much of its old 

 prestige, and certainly an engagement there, for the sake 

 of the advertisement, was not to be despised. Overtures 

 were therefore made, and an engagement for a course of 

 twelve lectures quickly followed ; these twelve to con- 

 sist of the six shortly before delivered at Brixton Rise, 

 and now to be twice repeated, and on no account to 

 occupy more than three-quarters of an hour apiece. 



This last restriction chafed my father terribly, for of 

 all things he detested being tied for time, and liked to 

 say what he had to say at what length he pleased, 

 without the necessity for constant reference to his 

 watch. However, there was nothing for it. The pro- 

 gramme was made out, and as fast as one entertainment 

 was over another had to be provided ; and of course 

 punctuality was an absolute necessity to all concerned. 



