CHILDHOOD. 13 



" the Ringwood Road, was the limit of my walking in 

 "this direction, but here, scrambling up a gravelly cliff 

 " on the left, on a broad expanse of heath, with a fine 

 "view on all sides, one day in summer, probably in 

 "1819 or '20, we caught some beautiful green lizards, 

 " which I incline, from recent evidence, to believe were 

 "the true Lacerta viridis of continental Europe, not- 

 " withstanding what Thomas Bell says in his * British 

 "Reptiles.' William brought them home in his hand- 

 " kerchief; but on showing our treasures to mother, 

 "she was terribly frightened, supposing them to be 

 " venomous. She ordered us to kill the ' nasty things,' 

 " which of course we immediately did, though with great 

 " regret, on the pebbles in front of the house. 

 If Mrs. Gosse lacked a due appreciation of reptiles, she 

 was none the less an admirable mother. Her life was by 

 no means an easy one. The peculiarity of her husband's 

 profession made him absent from home for ten or eleven 

 months of every year, and during his prolonged journeys 

 all the responsibility fell upon her. The income of the 

 family was extremely restricted, yet she contrived all 

 through the anxious period of their childhood to bring up 

 three sons and one daughter in what they were able to 

 look back upon as a " reputable subgentility ; " she took 

 care that they were always clean in person and neat in cloth- 

 ing, sufficiently fed and decently educated. Mr. Gosse's 

 earnings were not very considerable, were so irregular that 

 they could not be depended upon, and were to a large 

 degree expended by himself in his ceaseless wanderings. 

 But his wife had an abhorrence and terror of debt, and 

 rarely indeed was the rent not paid on the very day it 

 was due. To secure this, the greatest frugality and 

 industry were required, and ceaseless exercise of ingenuity. 

 Between Mrs. Gosse and her husband there was an ever- 



