[Chap. Hi] HERTFORD: HOME OF MY BOYHOOD 31 



black, and so strong that none of the party could drink it, 

 till boiling water was brought for us to dilute it with. I, of 

 course, had only milk and water, with perhaps a few drops of 

 coffee as a special luxury. 



Of the next few months of my life I have also but slight 

 recollections, confined to a few isolated facts or incidents. 

 On leaving the inn we went to my aunt's at Dulwich. Mrs. 

 Wilson was my mother's only sister, who had married a 

 solicitor, who, besides having a good practice, was agent for 

 Lord Portman's London property. I remember being much 

 impressed with the large house, and especially with the 

 beautiful grounds, with lawns, trees, and shrubs such as I had 

 never seen before. There were here also a family of cousins, 

 some about my own age, and the few days we stayed were 

 very bright and enjoyable. 



I rather think that my father, and perhaps my brother 

 also, had left Usk a few days before us to make arrangements 

 for the family at Hertford, and I think that I was taken to a 

 children's school at Ongar, in Essex, kept by two ladies — the 

 Misses Marsh. I think it was at this place, because my 

 father had an old friend there, a Mr. Dyer, a clergyman. 

 There were a number of little boys and girls here about my 

 own age or younger, and what I chiefly remember is playing 

 with them in the playground, garden, and house. The play- 

 ground was a gravel yard on one side of the house, and there 

 we occasionally found what I here first heard called ■ thunder- 

 bolts" — worn specimens of belemnites — fossils of the chalk 

 formation. We all believed that they fell down during 

 thunderstorms. One rather exciting incident alone stands 

 out clear in my memories of this place. There was a garden 

 sloping down to a small pond in the centre, with rather steep 

 banks and surrounded by shrubs and flower-beds. This was 

 cut off from the house and yard by a low iron fence with a 

 gate which was usually kept locked, and we were not allowed 

 to play in it But one day the gardener had left it open, and 

 we all went in, and began pulling and pushing an old- 

 fashioned stone roller. After a little while, as we were pushing 

 it along a path which went down to the pond, it suddenly 



