178 HIGHWAYS AND HORSES. 



early age, but his early education proved a complete 

 failure ; he was a wild, plucky little chap, but a tremen- 

 dous dunce. Mr. Smiles says that "Teaching had as 

 little effect upon him as pouring water on a duck's 

 back." He left school at sixteen years of age. It 

 appears to have been a constant practice for workmen 

 in the neighbourhood of Como to quit their homes and 

 emigrate to England, where they might follow their 

 various trades with greater profit than at home. 



Bianconi's father arranged with a man named 

 Andrea Faroni to take the lad with him to England, 

 and instruct him in the art of hawking prints. Bian- 

 coni was to be apprenticed to this trade for eighteen 

 months, at the end of which time, if he did not like his 

 occupation, he was to be removed to the care of an old 

 friend of his father's named Colnaghi, who was a 

 print-seller in London. This man afterwards made a 

 large fortune and a considerable reputation. Bian- 

 coni's mother seems to have been very much attached 

 to him ; there was a little banquet given in his honour, 

 and at which the whole family were present, shortly 

 before he left Italy. On this occasion his mother was 

 so grieved at parting with him that she fainted. Just 

 as he was leaving his home at Tregolo, he heard her 

 last words, which were : " When you remember me, 

 think of me as waiting at this window, waiting for 

 your return." And yet it appears he never did return, 

 although he afterwards became a wealthy man, which 

 does not say much for his filial affection. Three other 

 boys accompanied Faroni to Ireland; they did not stay 

 in London en route but went straight to Dublin. This 

 was in the summer of 1S02. When Bianconi went 

 into the streets of Dublin to sell his prints, he could 

 not speak a word of English. He used to hold up his 



