4 SELECTIONS FROM HUXLEY 



of our parish, and who was as a god to us country folk, be- 

 cause he was occasionally visited by the then Prince George 

 of Cambridge. I remember turning my pinafore wrong 

 side forwards in order to represent a surplice, and preaching 

 5 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 of the strong clerical affinities which my 

 friend Mr. Herbert Spencer has always ascribed to me, though 



10 1 fancy they have for the most part remained in a latent state. 

 My regular school training was of the briefest, perhaps 

 fortunately, for though my way of life has made me ac- 

 quainted with all sorts and conditions of men, from the highest 

 to the lowest, I deliberately affirm that the society I fell into 



15 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 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 



20 of the struggle for existence among ourselves, and bullying 

 was the least of the ill practices current among us. Almost 

 the only 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 



25 longer. I was a very slight lad, but there was a wild-cat ele- 

 ment in me which, when roused, made up for lack of weight, 

 and I licked my adversary effectually. However, one of my 

 first experiences of the extremely rough-and-ready nature of 

 Justice, as exhibited by the course of things in general, arose 



30 out of the fact that I the victor had a black eye, while 

 he the vanquished had none, so that I got into disgrace 

 and he did not. We made it up, and thereafter I was unmo- 

 lested. One of the greatest shocks I ever received in my life 

 was to be told a dozen years afterwards by the groom who 



