48 HEMOIB OF JOHN WILSON. 



on a slightly inclined plane, perhaps an inch to a yard. We have 

 seen twenty-three feet done in great style, and measured to a nicety, 

 hut the man who did it (aged twenty-one, height, five feet eleven 

 inches, weight, eleven stone) was admitted to be (Ireland excepted) 

 the best far leaper of his day in England."* 



This achievement, worthy of one of Dr. Dasent's favorite heroes, 

 took place in the presence of many spectators, at a bend of the Cher- 

 well, a tributary of the Isis, where it glides beautifully through the 

 enamelled meads of Christ Church, the leap being taken across the 

 stream. 



To one so full of life, and of the enjoyment of it in its various 

 phases, Oxford was prolific ground for the exercise of his vivacious 

 spirit ; and it will naturally be expected that, in connection with this 

 period, there are many curious stories to unfold. But the flight of 

 years soon obliterates the traces of past adventures ; very few of 

 the contemporaries of those pleasant days survive ; and I am sorry, 

 therefore, to say, that I have been able to gather but few authentic 

 details regarding this portion of my father's life. Every one knows 

 how a story, when it has passed from its original source, is, in an 

 incredibly short space of time, so metamorphosed, as not again to 

 be recognizable ; complexion, manner, matter, all changed — -just as 

 if loving and making a He were a matter of duty. Sensible persons, 

 too, are sometimes found credulous of strange tales ; while the 

 world in general is ever ready to pick up the veriest rubbish, and 

 complacently exclaim, " How characteristic ; so like the man." Few 

 men have had more fables thus circulated regarding them than my 

 father. Perhaps the most foolish story that was ever told of him, 

 is one that William and Mary Howitt allude to with wise in- 

 credulity, in their pleasant yet somewhat incorrect memorial of him, 

 and which now, to the disappointment of not a few, must be denied 

 in to to. It was said that, when wandering in Wales, he joined a 

 gang of gipsies, and married a girl belonging to that nomade tribe, 

 and lived with her for some time among the mountains. That he 

 had acted along with strolling players, and that there was one com- 

 pany to which he was kind and generous, is quite true; but that he 

 lived with them, or any other adventurers, is mere romance, " the 

 baseless fabric of a vision." 



A journal of his wanderings through Wales and the south of 



* " Essay on Gymnastics." 



