xvi] LONDON AND LEICESTER 231 



take the lowest class in Greek for him, and I was obliged to 

 tell him I did not even know the Greek alphabet. But these 

 little unpleasantnesses once got over did not recur. There 

 were two assistant masters in the school, both pleasant men, 

 but as they did not live in the house I did not see a great deal 

 of them. In drawing, I had only beginners ; but I soon found 

 I had to improve myself, so I sketched a good deal, but could 

 never acquire the freedom of touch of my brother William, 

 and before I left, one of my scholars drew very nearly, if not 

 quite, as well as I did. 



I had a very comfortable bedroom, where a fire was lit 

 every afternoon in winter, so that with the exception of one 

 hour with the boys and half an hour at supper with Mr. and 

 Mrs. Hill, my time after four or five in the afternoon was my 

 own. After a few weeks, finding I knew a little Latin, I had 

 to take the very lowest class, and even that required some 

 preparation in the evening. Mr. Hill was a good mathe- 

 matician, having been a rather high Cambridge wrangler, 

 and finding I was desirous of learning a little more algebra, 

 offered to assist me. He lent me Hind's algebra, which I 

 worked all through successfully, and this was followed by the 

 same author's trigonometry, which I also went through, with 

 occasional struggles. Then I attacked the Differential 

 Calculus, and worked through that ; but I could never fully 

 grasp the essential principle of it. Finally, I began the 

 Integral Calculus, and here I found myself at the end of my 

 tether. I learnt some of the simpler processes, but very soon 

 got baffled, and felt that I wanted some faculty necessary for 

 seeing my way through what seemed to me an almost track- 

 less labyrinth. Whether, under Mr. Hill's instruction, I 

 should ultimately have been able to overcome these diffi- 

 culties I cannot positively say, but I have good reason to 

 believe that I never should have done so. Briefly stated, just as 

 no amount of teaching or practice would ever have made me 

 a good musician, so, however much time and study I gave 

 to the subject, I could never have become a good mathe- 

 matician. Whether all this work did me any good or not, 

 I am rather doubtful. My after-life being directed to 



