Childhood and Boyhood 67 



desirable, as he had no children to play with at home, that he should 

 go to school. He was accordingly placed under the care of a Mrs French 

 who kept a school for 25 little boys about a mile from the Larches'. 

 Here Francis distinguished himself from the beginning by being head- 

 boy, although there were many several years older than himself. He 

 remained at this school for three years, until he was eight years of age, 

 and in the last half-year had daily private instruction from the 

 Rev. Mr Clay, master at the Birmingham Free School. The good 

 dame at the head of his school reported very highly of little Francis, 

 and once added, " the young Gentleman is always found studying 

 the abstruse sciences." This was probably a protest on his part against 

 the over emphasis of Latin in small boys' education a matter on 

 which Galton wrote very strongly later (see p. 88). When he left 

 this dame's school at 8| years of age, he had read and learnt the 

 following books : Eton Latin Grammar, Delectus, Eutropius, Phaedrus' 

 Fables, Ovid's Metamorphoses as far as the Medusa incident, and three- 

 quarters of Ovid's Epistles. 



His mother, writing indeed of her Benjamin, in 1830, when he was 

 leaving Mrs French's school, says : 



"Francis from his earliest age shewed highly honorable feelings. His temper, 

 although hasty, bore no resentment and his little irritations were soon calmed 2 . His 

 open candid disposition with great good nature and kindness to those boys younger than 

 himself, made him beloved by all his schoolfellows. He was very affectionate and even 

 sentimental in his manners. His activity of body could only be equalled by the activity 

 of his mind. He was a boy never known to be idle. His habit was always to be doing 

 something. He showed no vanity at his superiority over other boys, but pitied them, 

 and said it was a shame their education should have been so neglected 8 ." 



1 The school was at Balsall Heath House, and four communications to Tertius 

 Galton from his son have survived a rough drawing of a suspension bridge with a ship 

 passing under it, a more tidy drawing of a wooden shed or house, and a neat little 

 painting of decorative sweet peas, and lastly a dated letter, June 1st, 1830, stating that 

 the holidays would commence on the 19th, that he thought he had much improved in his 

 Latin and Greek with Mr Clay : "I shall soon be in Greek Delectus and Sense verses, for 

 you know that I have nearly done with Nonsense verses." 



2 His mother once said to him at a somewhat later age : " Francis, how can you 

 keep your temper as you do?" " I don't," he answered, "but I've found out a capital 

 plan. I go to my room as soon as I can get away, and I beat and kick my pillow till 

 I'm tired out, and by the time I've finished, my temper's all gone." He continued 

 metaphorically " to beat his pillow " under great provocations in later life. 



3 This is aptly illustrated by his great concern on going to Mrs French's because 

 he thought that his mother would not let him remain at that school the boys were so 



commonplace they had never heard of the Iliad or Marmion ! 



92 



