6 Selections from Huxley 



would sometimes say, " Ah ! you were such a pretty boy ! " 

 whence I had no difficulty in concluding that I had not 

 fulfilled my early promise in the matter of looks. In 

 fact, I have a distinct recollection of certain curls of 

 5 which I was vain, and of a conviction that I closely 

 resembled that handsome, courtly gentleman, Sir Herbert 

 Oakley, who was vicar of our parish, and who was as a 

 god to us country folk, because he was occasionally visited 

 by the then Prince George of Cambridge. I remember 



10 turning my pinafore wrong side forwards in order to 

 represent a surplice, and preaching to my mother's maids 

 in the kitchen as nearly as possible in Sir Herbert's manner 

 one Sunday morning when the rest of the family were at 

 church. That is the earliest indication I can call to mind 



15 of the strong clerical affinities which my friend Mr. Her- 

 bert Spencer has always ascribed to me, though I fancy 

 they have for the most part remained in a latent state. 



My regular school training was of the briefest, per- 

 haps fortunately, for though my way of life has made me 



20 acquainted with all sorts and conditions of men, from the 

 highest to the lowest, I deliberately affirm that the 

 society I fell into at school was the worst I have ever 

 known. We boys were average lads, with much the same 

 inherent capacity for good and evil as any others; but the 



25 people who were set over us cared about as much for our 

 intellectual and moral welfare as if they were baby- 

 farmers. We were left to the operation of the struggle 

 for existence among ourselves, and bullying was the least 

 of the ill practices current among us. Almost the only 



30 cheerful reminiscence in connection with the place which 

 arises in my mind is that of a battle I had with one of my 

 classmates, who had bullied me until I could stand it 

 no longer. I was a very slight lad, but there was a wild- 

 cat element in me which, when roused, made up for lack of 



