EARLY EDUCATION. 3 



Quilon. Being ordered home ill with liver complaint, he 1816. 

 left Madras in 1816, and died near St. Helena, on his way 

 to England. 



In a list given of his schools and instructors by Mr. 

 De Morgan, his father's name occurs as his first teacher. 

 He was then four years old, and learnt ' reading and nu- 

 meration.' The heading of one column in this list, ( Age 

 of the Victim, 5 shows in a half- serious, half-humorous 

 way the idea ' the Victim ' retained of his early schooling. 

 He did not mean that it was worse in his case than in 

 that of other boys, and he always spoke gratefully of his 

 father; but he was no exception to the rule that most 

 children, especially those of great intellectual promise, are 

 more or less victims to our unenlightened methods of 

 education. Of these exceptional children I have heard 

 him say that those have the best chance who have the 

 least teaching. 



At Barnstaple he learned, from a Miss Williams, 1813. 

 reading, writing, and spelling; at Taunton, being be- Teachers - 

 tween seven and eight, from Mrs. Poole, reading, writing, 

 arithmetic, and (very) general knowledge. He always 

 retained a painful remembrance of this school. .The Rev. 

 J. Tenner, a Unitarian minister, was for a short time 

 his teacher. The pupil was at that time about nine 

 years old, and added Greek and Latin to his other studies. 

 Mr. Tenner was the uncle of Henry Crabb Robinson, who 

 died in 1867, aged ninety-one, and who had been at one 

 time a pupil in the school. The next two teachers were, at 

 Blandford, the Kev. T. Keynes, Independent minister ; and 

 at Taunton, the Rev. H. Barker, Church of England 

 clergyman, at whose school he was taught Latin, Greek, 

 Euclid, Algebra, and a little Hebrew. His last school- 

 master, a clever man, and one of whom, though he was not 

 a high mathematician, his pupil always spoke with respect, 

 was the Rev. J. Parsons, M.A., formerly Fellow of Oriel. 

 At Mr. Parsons' school, at Redland, near- Bristol, Latin, 

 Greek, and mathematics were taught. Mr. De Morgan 



B 2 



