IV 



ETON 19 



mence mathematics soon. — I remain, my dear Sir John, 

 yrs. most faithfully, H. M. Birch. 



It is rather amusing, by the light of later 

 events, to read this censure of the " exceeding 

 inaccuracy " of one who was to prove himself 

 a very model of all that is most accurate and 

 exact. It seems that in spite of the counsel 

 given in the above letter he did succeed in his 

 desire to " dabble " in other studies outside the 

 statutory course of the classics, for we find this 

 later note : " He stayed three years at Eton, 

 leaving in 1848, when he was in Upper Upper 

 Fifth. At that time, excepting half an hour of 

 geography, the boys did nothing but Greek and 

 Latin, not even Arithmetic. Against the advice 

 of his tutor, he read some Natural History and 

 Geology and did (considering that he was much 

 younger than most of the boys in his division) 

 fairly well with the School's work. Still, the 

 system did not suit him, not that he disliked 

 Latin and Greek, but he yearned for other 

 things also." 



Lord Avebury used to tell an amusing little 

 story by way of illustrating what the Eton 

 authorities of the day regarded as a liberal 

 departure in the direction of a scientific course. 

 His father had several times expressed the wish 

 that a little science could be included in his son's 

 studies, and ultimately, at the beginning of some 

 holidays, the tutor wrote that at last he had 

 been able to do as Sir John Lubbock wished, 

 namely, to introduce " some science " into the 

 holiday task. Sir John, highly pleased, sent 

 for " the task," but the only reference to science 



