1 54 THE LIFE OF F HI LIP HENRY GOSSE. 



on July 26, 1840. The loss of Mrs. Green left him 

 more lonely than ever, for she was one of the few persons 

 to whom he was attached. In the course of this summer 

 he was once more reduced to such straits that he had 

 almost determined to "again cross the Atlantic, either 

 back to the Southern States, or to the West Indies ; for," 

 he says, " I cannot live thus. I get no new pupils, and am 

 losing money. In the States I can be sure of ;^200 or 

 ;^250 a year, but it is such an exile. I should seek a 

 school as before, and at my leisure get up the material of 

 another book." This idea of a school, either in England 

 or America, had long been haunting him, and early in 

 1840, as his own acquaintance with Greek was but 

 elementary, he set himself to a close and earnest study, 

 with grammar, lexicon, and Delectus, reading thirty pages 

 a day, until he became, what he remained, a fair Greek 

 scholar. In June he ran down to Colchester, to inquire 

 about a school advertised for sale, but with no result. In 

 September he arranged with a retiring schoolmaster in 

 London Lane, Hackney, to take over his fixtures and 

 three pupils. His printed announcement to the gentry of 

 the neighbourhood now lies before me, a faded scrap of 

 elegant satin paper. It is worded so quaintly, and carries 

 about it such an old-world air, that I cannot refrain from 

 reprinting it : — 



ACADEMY. 



"Mr. p. H. Gosse respectfully announces to the 

 " inhabitants of Hackney and its vicinity, that he intends 

 " to open a Classical and Commercial School for Young 

 " Gentlemen, at the large and commodious School-room 

 " in London Lane, in the rear of the Temperance 

 " Hotel ; where, by assiduous attention to the morals, 

 *' comfort, and intellectual progress of the Pupils intrusted 



