CHILDHOOD. 23 



nagerie arrived at Blandford. The two young naturalists 

 were excessively interested in a canvas painting on the 

 booth, which advertised an animal unknown to either of 

 them by name or figure. This was "The Fierce Non- 

 descript, never before seen in this Country alive." John 

 Brown, to allay his feverish curiosity, contrived overnight 

 an interview with the attendant, who confessed that the 

 Nondescript was also sometimes known by the less 

 mysterious name of the tortoiseshell hyena. This, on 

 the following day, was found to be the case, and the boys 

 had the delight of seeing the South African hyena or 

 Cape hunting-dog {Lycaon pictiis), now familiar to English 

 sightseers, but in those days a quadruped never before 

 secured by any travelling menagerie. 



Philip was at Blandford until the end of the first 

 term of 1824. He acquired during his one full year at 

 Blandford a good fundamental knowledge of Latin and 

 the elements of Greek, being well grounded in the grammar 

 of the former language. His vocabulary in Latin was 

 not extensive ; he had read but few authors, and only 

 Virgil at all thoroughly, yet he had secured an acquaintance 

 with the language which was of great service to him in 

 later life, and which he steadily increased until quite recent 

 years. Like all boys who are destined to be men of letters, 

 he began to versify, and such specimens of his early rhymes 

 as have been preserved from his Blandford days show that 

 he was beginning to secure facility in the arrangement of 

 phrases. The expense of keeping him at boarding-school 

 now became more than the household at Poole could 

 sustain any longer, and he came home early in his fifteenth 

 year. For the next twelvemonth he continued his studies 

 as well as he could with none, or with at best very in- 

 adequate local help. 



At fifteen Philip Gosse was a broad-shouldered, healthy 



