VII 



His Temper 195 



merely a dreamer ; for, truth to tell, he had a very- 

 strong human personality. It showed up in what I 

 have referred to as respected in the family : ' George's 

 awful temper.' It was not awful when you lived 

 with it at close quarters and got used to it. It v/as 

 volcanic, but never vindictive. I knew as a child 

 perfectly well that if I successfully dodged a copy 

 of Brand's Dictionary of the Arts and Sciences, or 

 some other work, temporarily diverted into use as 

 a projectile in consequence of some conduct of mine, 

 all would be well, provided I went away and was 

 quiet for a time. No one in his family knew half 

 so much of his temper as I did. His wife he was 

 ever anxious about on account of her delicate 

 health ; moreover, she was not an irritating person to 

 any one — neither was his son ; but I was so mainly 

 because in early years I was liable, either directly 

 or indirectly, to cause sudden noises. For example, 

 I had in early life a taste for fighting cocks ; my 

 mother, who was fond of any kind of animal, let me 

 keep them. During those long months when my 

 father was absent from home those fighting cocks 

 behaved well ; when he came home they did little 

 else but crow. There is something fine in a game- 

 cock's crow, and it is stirring : it used to produce 

 that effect on my father considerably, and I might 

 just as well have crowed those crows myself, for I 

 was held accountable for them. Therefore, when 

 my father came home a transportation of game- 

 cocks to the uttermost end of the long Highgate 



