Introduction ix 



punctual beast. The weather, a sUght ailment, or other excuse 

 was responsible for many a Saint Monday of truancy, and the 

 possession of a gun and a pointer — fond maternal gifts — were 

 perilous competitors with the Latin grammar and Greek 

 thesaurus. Moreover Terpsichore, no less than Clio, proved 

 a seductive lure from arid academic studies; for once a week 

 there came from Colchester a master of dancing to Lavenham 

 school, and of the fair daughters of that city who attended the 

 lessons, two made havoc with Arthur's susceptible heart. 



His grammar-school days over, many a parental contest took 

 place in Bradfield Hall concerning Arthur's future; his father 

 inclining'to a university and clerical, his mother to a mercantile 

 career. Needless to say who triumphed: at the age of 

 seventeen, four hundred pounds were wasted in a three years' 

 apprenticeship to Messrs. Robertson of Lynn who were to 

 qualify their charge to enter the office of Messrs. Toulmin of 

 that city, into whose house Arthur's sister, Eliza Maria, had 

 married. In this " detestable situation " the young appren- 

 tice found solace by lining his room with books and by dancing 

 with the principal belles of Lynn at the monthly assemblies. 

 Here too Arthur fell an easy victim to the " fine, black, expres- 

 sive eyes " — Ah, quegli occhi ladroncelli ! — of a Miss Robertson, 

 his master's daughter, and satisfied his voracious appetite for 

 reading by composing political pamphlets which the book- 

 sellers accepted and paid for with collections of books. His 

 sister's early death, however, wrecked the partnership scheme, 

 and to Arthur's profound satisfaction the hated ledger was 

 closed for ever. 



In 1761, after a round of gaieties in London, where he 

 witnessed the coronation, went to court and to theatres, played 

 at cards, and contracted debts, the ci - devant mercantile 

 apprentice launched the Universal Magazine and boldly inter- 

 viewed the redoubtable Dr. Johnson himself — " a half-dressed, 

 slovenly figure " — who refused collaboration and prophesied 

 failure. Failure came with no laggard steps, and after five 

 numbers had been issued its youthful proprietor and editor 

 shifted the burdensome thing from his own shoulders to those 

 of a syndicate of booksellers. 



A mother's veto having blocked the acceptance of the offer 

 of a commission in a cavalry regiment, Arthur, on the threshold 

 of manhood, found himself forlorn, without profession, business, 

 or support and, at his mother's suggestion, turned to farming. 

 During four years (1763-1766), trusting greatly to a bailiff and 



