6 AUTOBIOGRAPHY 



early promise in the matter of looks. In fact, I have a dis- 

 tinct recollection of certain curls of which I was vain, and of 

 a conviction that I closely resembled that handsome, courtly 

 gentleman. Sir Herbert Oakley, who was vicar of our parish, 

 and who was as a god to us country folk, because he was 

 occasionally visited by the then Prince George of Cambridge. 

 I remember turning my pinafore \\Tong side forwards in 

 order to represent a surplice, and preaching 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 afl&nities which my friend 

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

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

 cat element 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 



