MARLBOROUGH COLLEGE. 49 



would have been omitted, had Darwin's " Descent of Man " been 

 pubhshed then. A postscript added, that I was " very volatile." 



The answer my mother got, to my great delight, was most 

 triumphant ; for it roundly, and at considerable length, declared 

 that I possessed every virtue which was known to man. And it had 

 the effect of making everyone about the place, from my old nurse 

 down to the lad who helped in the garden, declare that my friend 

 Chang had much reason to sing, as his adieu, 



" Good-bye College, good-bye schools, 

 Good-bye all ye Marlborough fools." 



My mother was anxious that this character should be flourished 

 before my masters, but I showed it to my companions on my return 

 to school, and they also consulted the sly magician, much to the 

 satisfaction of both parties. 



Besides my instinct for climbing trees, I possessed a great 

 propensity for catching birds, and much of my time during the 

 holidays was passed in alluring birds beneath a sieve propped up 

 by a stick, with a long string communicating to the window or 

 tree behind which I stood concealed. Small birds were much 

 scarcer in the village then than they are now, for in the Spring 

 nearly every nest was robbed by the village boys, for the sake of a 

 small reward given by the farmers who regarded small birds as their 

 foes. Consequently I caught very few, but when I did catch one 

 I wrung its neck and roasted it by the saddle-room fire, carefully 

 turning it on an impromptu spit formed with a piece of string. 

 Robins shared the fate of less familiar birds ; and when anyone 

 pleaded on their behalf, I considered I had eifectually disposed of 

 any misdirected sentimentality on their behalf by quoting the 

 current tradition of the village, " that robins, although apparently 

 so innocent and holy, in reality are fearful hypocrites, if not the 

 most depraved of all the feathered race ; as the young ones, on 

 attaining maturity, invariably combine and massacre their parents." 



At night I would also surprise the wretched birds asleep in 



