54: A CHEMICAL TRIAD 



usher of his cousin, George Bewley, who kept a school at 

 Kendal ; and here his own real education commenced. Provi- 

 dence threw him in the way of the blind mathematician 

 Gough, to whom Dr. Whewell and other great mathemati- 

 cians are indebted for their early training, and whom the poet 

 Southey has commemorated in the following beautiful lines : 



' Methinks I see him, how his eyeballs rolled 

 Beneath his ample brow, in darkness pained, 

 But each instinct with spirit, and the frame 

 Of the whole countenance alive with thought, 

 Fancy, and understanding ; whilst the voice 

 Discoursed of natural or moral truth, 

 With eloquence, and such authentic power, 

 That in his presence humbler knowledge stood 

 Abashed, and tender pity overawed.' 



Ultimately, Mr. Bewley gave up the school, which was 

 continued by the two brothers Dalton, John and George. 

 To begin housekeeping was hard work for the brothers. Their 

 means were small, and the necessities of furnishing pressed 

 hard upon them. Nevertheless, what with the assistance of 

 Mr. Bewley, and seven guineas lent them by the old people, 

 to be repaid 9 mo. 29,' and which was paid only a week after 

 time, and thirteen shillings and sixpence thrown into the com- 

 mon fund by kind sister Mary, who acted as housekeeper, and 

 in respect of whom our philosopher's journal bears the expres- 

 sive testimony of Mary, in part, 01. Os. 6df.' the first diffi- 

 culties of housekeeping were overcome. The brothers Dalton 

 may be said to have succeeded in their school, notwithstand- 

 ing that the average income derived from tuition was only 

 70Z. per annum. This scanty pittance was eked out by draw- 

 ing conditions, collecting rents, making wills, and searching 

 registers ; all which brought them, on an average, about 51. 

 per annum more. 



But the life of a village schoolmaster afforded a scope 

 too restricted for a gigantic intellect like that of John Dalton. 

 He yearned for a profession more congenial to his tastes, and 



